Long, Long Way From Home
by Bastille Kain
Summary: Belesco traps Illyana and a bunch of her fellow mutants in the Buffyverse. Making sure that she can’t get back home he seals her out of Limbo. While in the Buffyverse the X-MEN help both Buffy and Angel while they help them search for a way back to th
1. Chap 1: Jump, Jive, and Wail

Author: Kain

Title: Long, Long Way From Home

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The character's of Buffy, Angel, and any other show, book, or comic that happen to be used here belong to other people.

Setting: Episode: Bring on the night. Season seven Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Episode: Apocalypse Nowish. Season Four Angel. (Ignore the almost month difference between the two air dates) After Storm lost her powers, but before the events in Secret Wars Two. (Mid to late eighties?)

Summary: Belesco traps Illyana and a bunch of her fellow mutants in the Buffyverse. Making sure that she can't get back home he seals her out of Limbo. While in the Buffyverse the X-MEN help both Buffy and Angel while they help them search for a way back to their reality.

Pairings: NA

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Is always appreciated. Just try to keep it constructive.

Email: Kain6639@yahoo.com

Archive: If you like it that much, sure. Just be sure to let me know where it's going, and give me the credit, good or bad, for my work.

__

Chapter One: Jump, Jive, and Wail

The cavern was vast. Illuminated by torches ensconced in the jagged walls. The odor of stagnant water was heavy in the air and nearly wipes away the stench of pure evil that fills Illyana's nose. The young mutant/demon/sorceress could sense something drastically wrong. Something in the fabric of reality itself.

She had been transporting a mix group of X-Men, New Mutants, and several associates of the theirs: Ororo, Kurt, Logan, Peter, Kitty, Rouge, Rachel, Rhane, herself, Amanda, and Forge back to the school from an unexpected and impromptu field mission. There had been a power surge as the stepping disc had traveled through Limbo discharging them into only god knew where. It wasn't their own reality. She had known that even before opening her eyes.

Looking down at her right arm she grimaces at the armor covering the black sleeve of her black and yellow New Mutants uniform. The silver armor was just covering her bicep, almost touching her shoulder. Like each time it appeared there was a little more of the gleaming metal, but it was only suppose to appear when she summoned her soul sword. Closing her eyes and relying on her internal senses she locates her soul sword nearby. She growls softly as she realizes what this means, that she somebody has tried to usurp her throne.

Rising to her feet with dark visions of what was going to happen to those that thought they could take what she had sacrificed so much for. She would show whoever thought they could take her throne just what it meant to challenge her. Belesco had fallen before her when she was little more then a child and he was the most powerful of the lower beings that had ever resided in Limbo.

She stops that line of thought as she spots three other people lying on the ground. No matter how much she wants her revenge she wasn't going to go after it and leave her friends to defend for themselves in a strange reality. Amanda, who was wearing what had been an elegant evening gown at the start of this nights misadventure, was slowly getting to her feet. It didn't surprise Illyana considering that next to her Amanda had the most mystical knowledge and ability to protect herself. Kurt, in the remnants of his black tuxedo consisting of a white shirt and black trousers, was just beginning to come around. Ororo, in her standard black leather pants, vest, and tube top, was still out cold.

The young girl could feel something else down here with them, like hot oil sliding over her skin. With the slightest bit of concentration she summons her soul sword to her hand, where it materializes with a soft light. It was the ultimate expression of her own arcane might, forged from her own soul. There was nothing mystical that could stand up to the powerful weapon and with only two people able to wield the gleaming blade its weight in her hands was a comfort.

"Amanda," she calls out softly as she kneels down next to Ororo. "There's something down here with us."

The gypsy witch nods saying, "I can feel it," as she moves next to her lover Kurt Wagner. "We got trouble coming," she says softly concern for his well being coloring her voice.

"We're X-Men," the blue furred mutant answers though his reply sounds more like a soft groan. "We've always got trouble coming," he adds in a slightly steadier voice.

Amanda smiles slightly at his mild joke. "Are you going to be all right?"

"Ja," the indigo colored German answers. "Just give me a few minutes to get my bearings..."

"Ain't got a few minutes elf," Illyana cuts in tersely as she gives Ororo a firm shake. "We don't even have a minute. Come on Storm. Time to wake up so you can give us a brilliant strategy that's gonna pull our fat out of the fire."

Ororo's eyes open slowly as she asks, "and just how big of a fire have we landed in this time?"

"Oh I'd say pretty big," Amanda mutters quietly. "There's something ancient, powerful, and dark in here with us, and it wants us gone."

"Then maybe we should explain this was all a big misunderstanding. No harm was meant and we'll only be to happy to be on our way," Kurt suggest lightly.

Illyana shakes her head, "it's got a shoot on sight policy." Helping Ororo to her feet she adds, "and I can't port out of here. Something, or someone's locked me out of Limbo."

Ororo nods in understanding as she says, "that's something we'll have to worry about that later. Our first concern has to be finding a way out of here."

"We've got company," Illyana tells them as she feels a number of demons, weak things all, but linked to the ancient evil she can feel like a symphony singing in her veins. Raising her gleaming sword she points to the cavern entrance.

Ororo, Kurt, and Amanda quickly follow her gesture to the more then a dozen dark robe shapes swarming in through the entrance. Pale light glints dully from the blades in their hands as they surge across the cavern floor like a swarm of ants. "Good to see we get the same reception wherever we go," Kurt banters darkly.

Ororo grimaces slightly. It was taking every once of her strength not to crumple to the ground and curl up into a little ball. She despises being underground with every fiber of her being and the thought of dying in this cavern has her teetering on the edge. Her hand was trembling slightly from the fear pumping through her body. Shoving her own personal emotions aside she takes control of the situation like she's been trained to do. "Amanda stay close to me, Kurt hit and run tactics."

"Wundabar," he murmurs before saying, "hope you ladies have as much fun as I do," he says to them a moment before vanishing in a burst of smoke and imploding air as the stench of brimstone lingers after his departure.

"Illyana," Ororo begins but stops as Peter's little sister says.

"Sorry Storm, but I got my own battle to fight." With that the young girl vanishes from sight.

At almost the same moment he vanishes Kurt reappears directly in front of the last harbringer, his two feet driving into the brown robed demon's chest sending him crashing into the jagged cavern wall. As he flips over backwards he vanishes again , the soft bamf accompanied by a wisp of smoke and the stench of brimstone.

Still in mid flip he appears above a second harbringer at the edge of the flock. "Alley-oops," he chants as he grabs hold of his shoulders and swings him up and over. At the apex of his flip he releases the demon sending him soaring into several of his brethren and taking them out of the fight momentarily.

With that he teleports to the cave ceiling where he can quickly survey the chaos that's erupting in the cavern. Amanda cleaves the swath of Harbringers in two as she uses her impressive mystical skills to drive a wedge like energy cone into their center driving them out away from and around her. Ororo was watching the blonde gypsy's back. Her natural agility and panther like grace when combined with Wolverine's take no prisoner fighting style was devastating to witness.

Having made sure they were in no immediate danger Kurt spots a gangle of robe wearing figures that look extremely bored with the proceedings. Deciding to entertain them he vanishes from the ceiling to appear in their midst. A cloud of smoke soon fills the air as he teleports and strikes so quickly he soon looks like a blue blur of flying fist, feet, and tail.

Annabelle was terrified beyond any measure of the word. She was so afraid at the moment that she could hardly think straight. Her only conscious thought was running as far as she could as fast as she could. She simply knew she had to get out of Buffy's house. Inside her head she knew it didn't make any kind of sense. Within Buffy's house was safety, of a sort, out here she was at the mercy of every creature she had ever heard of.

Looking over her shoulder at some indistinct sound behind her she runs head first into something that has about as much give as a brick wall. She bounces backwards to land on the hard pavement in the middle of the road with a loud thud. Looking up she sees the monster that Buffy had a run in with earlier. Had fought and run from because it was too strong for her to beat.

She knows its over, that she's dead. She wants to close her eyes, but she can't take them off the Turok-Han as it reaches for her. That was why she saw the mass of red fur barrel into the ancient vampire, driving it back a few steps as it slavering, snarling, snapping jaws sink into dead flesh.

The Turok-Han growls more in anger then pain as it hurls the large red wolf away from itself. The wolf twists and turns through the air in a way Annabelle has never seen any dog move before, let alone one nearly as big as a Shetland pony. The large canine lands on all four paws, between her and the vampire, facing the monster growling deep in her chest.

"Up and at 'em young lady," a gruff voice says as a strong hand grabs her under the shoulder hauling her to her feet.

Annabelle looks up at the tall Native American with short crop black hair, mustache, black gloves, a green sleeveless t-shirt, tan khakis, and toting a large high power rifle in his right hand that was leveled directly at the Turok-Han's chest. "That's not going to do a bleeding thing," she warns him.

Forge smirks lightly replying, "you'd be surprised what this baby can do," as he gets her all the way to his feet. "But you're probably right though."

The sound of steel sliding against steel fills the night air as a harsh voice growls, "hey bub. Why don't you try someone a little more your speed."

The Turok-Han spins around with a savage snarl to face a short man in a low crouch wearing a brown and tan skin tight body suit. three gleaming blades extend from the back of each hand and the savage scowl on his face matches that of the Turok-Han's. Without hesitation the feral mutant- whose savagery is only matched by the creature that his name is taken from, Wolverine- launches himself at the vampire.

The two primal forces exchange a series of ferocious swings at blurring speeds. Logan slicing three deep gorges in the Turok-Han's gut knowing he was going to take a cutting shot to his chest. He can't help himself. The savage, untamed, bestial side of his nature wants to do nothing more then rip this abomination in to bite size chunks of rotting flesh.

"Kitty," Forge calls out looking over Annabelle's head. The young English girl turns her head to fellow his gaze and for the first time sees the tall brunette; wearing a dark blue jacket, lighter blue pants, and dark boots, with a dark blue bandit mask doing little to hide the structure of her face, standing behind her. She was scowling at the Native American with the big gun as if he had just committed some cardinal sin. He sighs slightly, "fine. Shadowcat," he corrects himself putting extra emphasis on the name, "you and Wolfsbane get the girl back home while me and the runt put this thing in the ground."

"Mister that gun of yours isn't going to do a thing against the Turok-Han," she says again trying to convince him of the truth.

Forge takes a look at the vampire. "Let me guess. Stake, holy water, sunlight?" He inquires intently.

"Nothing your big gun has got," she informs him.

He gives the girl a slight nod saying, "like I said. You'd be surprised, now get out of here."

Rhane quickly lopes ahead as Kitty takes Annabelle's arm, "come on," the youngest X-Man says briefly. She dislikes leaving Forge with Logan, after all he was the one ultimately responsible for robbing Storm of her powers. It was more then that though. Despite knowing that she was doing the right thing, by getting the girl out of there, it still felt like she was abandoning a teammate, and leaving him facing not one, but two enemies on his own.

Buffy had bolted from the house nearly ten seconds ago. By the time anyone else had gotten out of the front door she was already long gone. Her powerful legs propelling her faster, allowing her to cover more distance then any human could possibly hope to match. The rest of the gang had barely taken half a dozen strides down the road when a sound like a low flying jet thunders overhead.

Xander looks up before anyone else and is first to see what looks like a runaway rocket, heat flames trailing along behind, aiming straight for them. In a split second his life flashes before his eyes as he imagines the size of the impact crater is going to be left when it crashes into the pavement at his feet. Around him he hears other people scream, or shout, or curse. After a moment he realizes he's one of the people screaming.

Suddenly, as if some unseen force decides, at the last moment, to spare their lives, the speeding object veers away from them as they all dive to the ground. As he feels the heat wave flash over his back he could have sworn he heard a southern accented exclamation of, "shoot!" A moment later the Connley's house explodes outward as the unknown object crashes into the building.

Rouge tried to avoid hitting anything, not an easy task when plummeting from an uncontrolled re-entry. She barely manages to avoid killing a handful of pedestrians running down the street. The house on the other hand was too big, she was going too fast. It was unavoidable. She can only hope that nobody is home at the moment, or that they all manage to survive the impact explosion her colliding with the solid ground is going to create. Throwing her arms over her head, because she knew this is going to hurt, a lot, she smashes through the house and into the earth below. The shock wave burst outward sending dirt and debris into the night sky.

Almost a minute later the six still dazed individuals pick themselves up off the debris littered ground. Silently thanking whatever god had decided to intervene on their behalf, or checking to see if everyone else was okay. Xander looks over at Willow since she was the only one present that had the kind of raw power he thought would be needed to alter its coarse and aim it at an abandoned house. "Did you?"

"No," Willow says with emphatic shake of her head.

Molly looks around the ground. "We should probably investigate it?" She suggest in voice none to positive of that fact.

"We have to go after Buffy," Dawn reminds everyone.

"Right," Giles agrees. "Xander, Molly, and myself shall go after Buffy. The rest of you check through the wreckage. And do be careful. There's no need to remind you of the last thing that crashed here abouts."

"And yet you just did," Willow replies with a smile.

Bluish lightening crackles in the lobby of the Hyperion sending the four men scattering for cover. "Didn't we just do this about year ago?" Gunn shouts from behind the red sofa as the wind begins to pick up and the lightening flashes intensify.

"Was it that long ago?" Wesley calls back from his spot behind the counter.

"Less," Angel answers.

"You sure about..."

A thick bolt of lightening strikes in the middle of the room lighting up the entire lobby as bright as noon. Everyone shields their eyes for a moment as the light fades. Angel is the first to become aware of the two new people in the lobby of the Hyperion as he picks up their scents.

"That was Belesco right?" Rachel inquires, _don't react to what I'm saying, but we have company. Two humans, a rather harmless demon and a vampire_, she says, with a bit of surprise, directly into Peter's mind.

"Da, that was Belesco," Peter answers for the people around them while Rachel talks directly to him. "If a more vile creature exist in the universe I have yet to met it." His powerful sounding Russian's voice answers in a tone that made it clear to Angel that Peter would go through armies if they stood between him and the being he calls Belesco. The name sounds vaguely familiar to the ensouled vampire but he can't place it.

"I've never met him personally but I've read the files you guys have on him." There was a slight pause before she says in a slightly more confused voice, "what was he trying to do? Because if it was kill us, well he did really bad job of it." _Their getting ready to jump out. Now that their eyes have adjusted_, _seems our arrival was a little blinding_.

"It seems..." The man begins but falls silent as the four members of Angel investigation spring up from their hiding spots.

"Don't move," Wesley shouts having aiming a pair of automatic pistols at the pair of human looking creatures as he jumps up from behind the counter.

"Um, maybe we don't want to make the nice people that just popped out of the portal too mad at us?" Lorne suggest as he tentatively holds his crossbow on the hulking dark haired man wearing blue cotton button down shirt, denim jeans, and work boots.

Gunn keeps a tight grip on his axe, but doesn't say anything as he keeps a close eye on the short crop red head with a long braid hanging between her shoulder blades. She was wearing a simple pair of black flats, dark green pants and a pale yellow wind breaker. He was getting the strange feeling, almost like he had seen these two somewhere before, but knew that was impossible because he would never forget meeting a girl as good looking as the one standing in front of him right now.

Angel simple steps out from behind the post with his arms folded across his chest effectively surrounding the two strangers. Rachel narrows her eyes on Angel, who still hasn't picked up the slightest trace of fear from the pair. In anything the two smell angry. "It is always guns," the young man grumbles as he looks around the people in the lobby. His eyes pause for a moment on Lorne but move on without saying anything else.

Suddenly Rachel puts a hand to her head in obvious discomfort as she stumbles a step. Peter ignores the weapons trained on him as he steadies her. "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she answers as she looks back up, red and yellow flames leaking from the corner of her eyes.

"What the?" Wesley breathes out, his finger tensing on the trigger of his guns.

Rachel ignores the actions of those going on around her as she finishes saying, "just so much fear. Spiking all at once. It was a bit overwhelming for a second." She looks back at Angel, "that apocalypse you're looking for. Well strap yourselves in because we're going front and center."

Everybody can feel the sudden power in the lobby rise as Rachel taps into her birthright. Like a large bird she enfolds the five people in protective wings as she moves them almost instantly from the lobby of the Hyperion to the club called the Sky Temple. Screams fill the large open central dining hall as the Beast continues with his slaughter.

Rachel smiles wanly as she begins to quip, "not even a spe..." and starts to fall to the ground. Peter catches her as the Angel, Gunn, and Wesley take a moment to adjust to their new surroundings.

"Wes, Gunn, Lorne get the people out of here!" Angel orders as he jumps directly at the Beast.

Startlement flashes through his eyes at seeing Angel and his companions. His master had wanted him to wait for their arrival before unleashing the Rain of Fire, but they weren't suppose to have arrived here for another hour or so.

Angel's double kick to his chest drives him back a pace but doesn't topple him. Angel flips over in mid air to land facing the thick hide creature. He has just enough time to avoid the crushing blow the Beast launches at his head. Driving forward Angel connects with three rapid punches, two to his chest followed by one to his face that pushes the larger creature back slightly.

The Beast swipes his fist upwards swatting Angel away like a pesky insect. Angel flips over several times in the air as he rises upwards. Landing on the edge of a sign he smiles tightly at the Beast before launching himself back at him.

Peter grabs hold of Lorne before the demon can move to follow Angel's instructions. Lorne has never before felt a grip from a human that was as powerful as the young Russian's. In a hard voice Peter gives Lorne a simple order, "keep her safe. Da."

Lorne nods his head emphatically as he gives his answer, "da. Yeah sure. She'll be as safe as little bunnies snuggled all nice and safe in a warm bed with uncle Lorne," he assures the large man.

Peter nods as he stands up. "Good. I would not like to have to break you if any harm should befall her," he says in a voice as hard as steel. Turning around he walks towards the battle taking place between the vampire Angel and the demon. Rachel had told him telepathically who the people were while in hotel lobby, and while neither of them completely trusts the strangers there were worst things in the world that need to be stopped. This creature he was walking towards was one of them.

Angel continues to hammer on the Beast to little effect. The creature's thick, rock like hide prevents even the strongest of the ensouled vampire's blows from doing more then feeling like flea bites. And like a buzzing little gnat the Beast once again swats Angel away with an almost negligent swipe of his heavy fist.

"Normally I would inquire how you are called," Peter informs the Beast coldly as he advances on the demon. He cast a disgusted look at what must be nearly two dozen dead bodies. The possibility of a sudden death had always been a part of his life, especially after his own brother's sudden passing in a freak accident, and more so since joining the X-Men. He had seldom seen so much senseless killing no matter where he has been as he saw here. "But for some reason I do not care to do so my thick skin comrade," he finishes a heart beat later.

The Beast throws a heavy fist forward, but the amount of time it takes the punch to travel the few feet to Peter's face the young Russian's body transforms from flesh and blood to solid organic steel in a light burst of released bio-energy. The Beast's fist pounds into Colossus' chest with a resounding clang that drives him back a bare inch. The floor groans softly under his massive weight.

Angel stares in wide eye amazement as the large man simply transforms right in front of his eyes. Turning from a living breathing human being into this giant steel golem. While the young man had been big, his steel counterpart was more so. He had gained at least half a foot, if not more, in height and his body's girth had increased accordingly while still maintaining the definition he had while flesh and blood. Angel makes a mental note of the fact that his clothes had adjusted to his new dimensions without tearing.

Gunn shakes his head, then blinks as he stares at Colossus. "That's not possibly," he whispers in disbelief.

"What part is that?" Wesley inquires as he to stares at the young man who had literally turned into a man of steel.

"Well now. Isn't this interesting," the Beast says in a harsh growl as he pulls his arm back.

Colossus stares the hard skin, horn demon in the eyes as the creature glares at him. "Surely that was not your strongest blow? Perhaps you would care for another? I would not wish you to feel cheated once I have defeated you demon."

A vicious grin splits the Beast's sharp tooth mouth. He strikes quickly, throwing everything he has into the right hook that smashes into Peter's steel head with a thundering crash that forces Colossus to take a slight step to his right. He works his jaw slightly as he straightens back up.

"Was that more what you were looking?" The Beast taunts, then swings with his left. Colossus blocks the hook punch easily with his right arm as he drives his left uppercut into the Beast's gut lifting him off the floor slightly. The Beast swings with his right, striking hard against the side of Colossus' head. Colossus drops his right down into the side of the Beast's head.

Small shock waves explode outwards with every single punch the two titans deliver, battering the few humans still within the club, driving them to their knees. The only person seemingly unaffected by the waves of kinetic force was Angel. "Come on," the ensouled vampire urges as he shoves the last remaining patrons towards the stairwell. With the cracks appearing in the floor and walls he didn't think the elevator would be safe for much longer.

Forge peeks up from his hasty tinkering to take a quick glance at the titanic struggle between the two savage, primal forces. Both seem equally matched in speed, agility, and all around fighting skill since Logan was regressing to his more animalistic side. The Turok-Han was stronger, but Logan's unbreakable skeleton and healing factor that seems more then capable of keeping up with the damage the Turok-Han is inflicting. Plus the vampire was extremely wary of Logan's claws and was taking great care to avoid losing his head. To Forge it looks like a fight that could last from now until the end of time without a winner ever being decided.

As soon as the stray thought pops through his head the Turok-Han manages to grab hold of Logan's wrist. Spinning around he hurls the savage little mutant through the steel wall of the building. With a victorious howl it turns its hideous countenance on Forge.

His heart pounding in his throat and a grimace on his face he slaps the last piece back into place. Bringing the rifle up to his shoulder, he offers up a brief pray to his ancestors that his impromptu modifications work. Sweat drips from his brow into his eyes while his blood roars in his ears.

The Turok-Han leaps at the same instant Forge squeezes the trigger. A concentrated beam of fabricated sunlight engulfs the Turok-Han at the apex of his jump. The creature screams as the searing pain rips through his entire body as he crumbles to fine powder in midair.

"Nice work," Logan grunts as Forge lowers the gun and takes a deep breath.

Forge takes a quick look at Logan, whose missing his shirt, exposing his hairy torso, and his skull cap, revealing his thick head of hair and bushy sideburns. "Just doing what was necessary," he answers.

Logan brushes past him without another word as he picks up the girls' scents. Forge lets out another heavy sigh as he slings his gun over his shoulder and trudges after the deadliest of the X-Men. It was no surprise to him that on the whole the X-Men dislike him. When they didn't show cold indifference it was open hostility. He was trying to find a way to correct his mistake, but it was going to take time. He just hopes Ororo's teammates give him the chance to make it right.

A mystical shield springs up in front of Amanda deflecting a wicked knife thrust to her stomach. With a silent word of power her right hand shoots forward releasing a blue tinged force bolt into the demon embedding him into the wall.

Ororo's thin, but powerful left arm blocks the low left hook thrust towards her ribs. A driving leopards paw strike into the man's throat stuns him. Using his body for leverage she executes an almost perfect round off landing directly behind him, the crook of her right elbow in his throat. She drives her hips back into his as she pulls him forward. Despite the fact that he outweighs her by a hundred pounds or more he sails up and over her at speed to crash face first into the hard ground.

Dropping low as she spins around the razor sharp blade slices through the air her head had just occupied. Her leather clad leg sweeps his feet out from under him dumping him to the ground. She quickly flips backwards giving herself a little bit of space so she would be able to gage the situation.

As the hard soles of her boots hit the ground two glowing sparks jump from Amanda's hand landing on their chest. In a sudden flash the two tiny pinpricks of light flare to blinding intensity. Ororo's eyes go wide as she yells, "no!" It was too late though as the magical flares burn holes straight through their hearts, in less time then it took her scream to leave her throat, cauterizing the wounds instantly.

Locking eyes with Kurt's lover, "we don't kill," Ororo informs the blonde witch with the hard voice of command. "Never, no matter the cause," she adds with hot steam melting the normal frost in her voice.

"That might be a great rule when you're dealing with humans Storm, but these are demons," Amanda tells her. "If we don't kill them they're going to keep coming until we're dead."

Kurt shakes his head slightly as he vanishes and reappears between the two strong willed women with his characteristic burst of smoke and brimstone. He loves Amanda with every part of his being; body, mind, and soul, but at times, when defending what she cares for, she can be nearly as bloodthirsty as Logan. "Much fun as I'm having ladies I suggest we find a way to end this quickly," he says pointing at the robed men closing in on them. Most of the harbringers are sporting bruises on their faces, or limping slightly, or seem to be clutching at one injury or another, but all of them were still closing in on three of them. "I think we've overstayed our welcome," he quips lightly attempting to keep the mood from getting oppressive.

"Have you seen Illyana?" Ororo inquires.

"She's here," Amanda answers quickly. "I can still sense her power," she assures the two X-Men.

Hardening herself for what she knows she has to be done if their going to survive, Ororo quickly scoops up the two knives. Handing one to Kurt she says in a quiet, but firm voice. "Do what has to be done."

"Now she'd be a hard one to break, though she's got that whole claustrophobia thing going, but still. She'd be a tough nut to crack," the First informs Illyana as she picks up the conversation they've been having since the fight began. "A real field commander. Understands the necessity of making sacrifices. I could do it of course, it just might take me awhile."

Illyana looks at the petite blonde, with the amazing fashion sense, standing in front of her. Of course she could see the entity's true form, or the one it likes to use the most, as well. If she hadn't spent the majority of her life growing up in Limbo under Belesco's indifferent hand she might of been afraid of this creature instead of nearly enthralled by it. "I know what you're trying to do," she tells the being of pure evil.

The First blinks her wide eyes innocently, which Illyana found finds slightly amusing considering it was the manifestation of all the evil in this world. In her reality that would have been Mephisto, but in this one it was this entity. "We're just having a polite conversation. A couple of like minded individuals coming to an understanding. Reaching some type of mutually beneficial accord."

"I can feel you," she says tapping her head, "in here. Whispering. Trying to touch that little piece of buried evil all humans have locked away inside them," she continues. After a moment she smiles as her eyes take on a demonic glow. "You won't find it. I embraced it a long time ago. Fed it so it could feed me, make me strong. Strong enough so that to enslave my prison turning it into my realm," she says in a harsh whisper.

The blonde smiles and this time there is nothing innocent in her malicious grin. "I knew there was something I liked about you."

"Well there's nothing I like about you," Illyana says raising her gleaming blade.

The first scoffs at the sword, "I'm incorporeal you idiot," she informs the blonde teenager.

With a broad smirk plastering her lips Illyana lunges forward, sliding her soul sword in-between the apparitions ribs. The First gasps as she clutches at the blade a look of dismay crossing her face as it contorts in pain. Around the room the harbringers grab their heads as one, screaming in silent agony as they drop to the ground.

"What? How?" She manages to gasp.

"This blade was forged from my soul. Pure love. Pure innocence," she adds with a vicious sneer. "It only effects mystical beings, spells, magic. I could stab a hundred million people through the heart with this blade and nothing would happen. Not even a tiny little scratch. But you," she snarls ripping the blade free, "it can destroy utterly!" She screams spinning around to decapitate the first.

With a loud roar of rage the first vanishes in a small prick of light.

Gasping softly Illyana drops to her knees driving the point of her sword into the ground. Resting her forehead on the pristine blade the tiny blonde takes deep ragged breathes as she tries to calm her racing heart.

She had been so close. It had been so tempting, to just allow the evil in her to overwhelm her. To allow the darkness that fills the void where her soul had been to consume her completely. She was able to feel it, could still feel it slithering around underneath her skin. Leaving a skim of slime in her veins.

Ororo kneels down beside Illyana. The young girl had simply appeared in the same spot she had disappeared from a bare handful of moments after the demons had begun collapsing all the while clutching their heads, but dead by the time they hit the floor. Ororo had her suspicions that they had Illyana to thank for that. "Are you all right?" The former African goddess asks Peter's golden hair sister.

Illyana shakes her head slightly. "after what I had to do in order to escape Limbo. I don't think I'll ever be all right again," she answers softly. Lifting her head she locks eyes with Ororo as she says, "but I'll survive."

Ororo gives the young girl an encouraging smile as she brushes a tear from her cheek. "Of course you will child," she replies with confidence, "and with your family at your side, supporting you, you'll eventually overcome whatever demons haunt you."

Illyana smiles at the irony of Ororo's words as she throws her arm around her shoulder squeezing her tightly. There really wasn't any way for her to escape the demon that haunts her. Eventually it would overwhelm her. She just prays that when that day comes her family would be able to do what will be necessary to stop her.

"I don't know what it is," Amanda replies answering Kurt's question. "I can just feel..." She trails off as they come around the last stone pillar.

"My god," Kurt gasps hoarsely as he sees the lean, platinum hair man secured to the rock column. He looks as if he's been beaten recently with dark bruises and cuts covering his face and ribs. There were deep, ritualistic runes carved into his chest that were just beginning to scab over, and he didn't appear to breathing.

Quickly moving forward Kurt cuts the leather straps holding his wrist to the wall. With as much gentleness as possible the blue furred mutant lays him on the ground to check for a pulse. From the temperature of the body he already knew it was a useless task, but he checks anyway. After several minutes he looks up with sadness in his soft eyes. Giving a slight shake of his head he says, "he's dead."

"Not quite..."

Kurt jumps up and back with a loud yelp at the sound of the dead man's voice. He twist and turns in midair landing on the stone column he had just taken the corpse down from facing the body on the floor who was staring back at him, with wide eyes, as his fingers and toes secure him to the rough surface.

Spike gives his head a slight shake as he stares first at the blue hair demon clinging to the pillar he had just hung from. With a quick shift of his eyes he glances at the lovely blonde who was staring at him. "Not quite who I was expecting, but... What do you think it'll take for a bloke to get a stiff drink?" Kurt couldn't help but smile at the Loganesque remark.

Buffy had been in a staring contest with the large red wolf for nearly a quarter of a minute now. It had simply appeared, ghosting silently out of the darkness to bar her path. At first she had tried to go around, but the wolf moved to block her. She tries to advance and the wolf growls warningly at her only stopping once she backs off. The strangest part of the encounter was that the wolf's stare conveys a human like intelligence.

"Buffy," Annabelle's gleeful shout rings out of the darkness as the girl rushes ahead.

"Don't..." the tiny blonde begins to warn the teenager but stops as the wolf barely glances at the potential slayer rushing past her.

"She won't hurt you," Kitty informs the slayer as she stops a few feet away.

Buffy gives the tall brunette a hard look as she can imagine what she's wearing is suppose to be some type of costume. "She's trained?" She inquires hopefully.

Kitty shakes her head with a slight smirk as she says, "not very well." The wolf looks up at the brunette and Buffy could swear the animal understood the comment, and didn't like it too much. "If what Annabelle's told us is true you know what a lycanthrope is?" Buffy stares blankly at the word and Kitty decides to rephrase it, "a werewolf?"

At that Buffy's eyes light up. "My best friend dated one for a couple of years," Buffy informs them.

Kitty nods her head as if she had expected no less. After spending a few minutes talking with and interrogating Annabelle, Kitty had come to the realization that while they were on Earth, but they weren't on their Earth. "Then this shouldn't come as too much of a shock," she tells them. "Rhane is a lycanthrope, a werewolf."

Buffy takes a quick look up at the moon, which was nowhere near full, before returning her attention to the girl and her wolf. "The moon isn't anywhere close to being full, and that's a wolf not a werewolf." Buffy informs Kitty.

"Rhane was born with the ability. She wasn't bitten or anything like the legends, and no her bite won't turn someone else into a werewolf. She can change whenever she chooses. Broad daylight, under a full moon, or anytime. And she can transform into a wolf or a hybrid, but she keeps her own intelligence," Kitty explains to the two girls before turning her attention to Rhane. "Next time you can do your own explaining and don't even think about giving me that look. It ain't going to work."

Rhane suddenly steps forward, hackles rising as she growls at the three humans running towards them. Two men and one woman, all of them breathing hard. "It's okay," Buffy tells her having heard them at almost the same time as the wolf. Rhane looks up at her questioningly knowing that no normal human should have been able to hear them yet. "They're friends."

A few moments later Giles, Xander, and Molly come into view, slowing as they near the group. Xander's eyes immediately lock on Kitty but he brushes off the feeling of familiarity. "Thank god we finally managed to find you," Giles huffs out as he comes to a stop. "And that you've seem to have made yourself a new friend," he adds as he rises back up. Looking at Buffy he says, "we might have some type of extraterrestrial on our hands. Something moving at incredible speeds crashed into the house next door."

Rhane shoots Kitty a quick look and the brunette nods as she says, "go. It could be one of ours and unless its Rouge or Peter they're going to need help." Rhane was at a full sprint even before the last words were spoken and again Xander looks Kitty over. "What?" The young brunette inquires seeing the looks.

Xander gives his head a shake. "Its nothing," he says. "Unless your name happens to be Katherine Pryde, AKA Ariel, AKA Sprite, AKA Shadowcat and you belong to a group of unsung superheroes called the X-Men, and that wolf that just ran off was actually a young girl named Rhane Sinclair."

"And what if it is?" Kitty questions in a hard voice she thought Logan would have been proud of. Xander blinks rapidly for a second before shaking his head because that just wasn't possible. "And most people call me Kitty not Katherine."

"No," Xander says in disbelief. "That's just not possible."

Annabelle shakes her head. She had almost been killed by a Turok-Han less the five minutes ago and for some reason she was feeling a little bold. "Look there's a Turok-Han back that..."

"Not no more," Logan's drawl silences Annabelle's frantic statement. A moment later the man himself steps into the light with Forge right on his heels. Xander takes one look at Logan, then Forge, before his eyes dart back to Kitty. His eyes roll back in his head and he would have hit the ground hard if not for Molly standing close enough to support him momentarily before Buffy takes hold of him and lowers him gently to the ground.

Giles gives Xander a brief glance before turning his attention back to the new arrivals. "You're trying to tell me that you killed a Turok-Han?"

Logan shakes his head saying, "gave it a good tussle." With a slight jerk of his thumb over his shoulder at Forge he adds, "but that honor goes to Mr. Wizard."

"This is so unfair," Anya complains as she gingerly makes her way through the rubble. "Both the men take off and leave all the heavy lifting to the women."

"We could always force Andrew to help us," Dawn comments wryly.

Anya shoots the teenager a withering look as she replies, "that wasn't even close to being funny."

"Sure it was," Dawn disagrees as she moves aside a large piece of wood. "But it is unfair. I mean this is pointless," she adds gesturing around at the bowl shaped wreckage that had been a house less then a half hour before. "What are we even suppose to be looking for in here, aside from some creepy alien from outer space."

"Thank you Dawn. And to think I had managed to keep my imagination to more mundane things. Like being exposed to massive amounts of highly experimental radiation that was just going to kill us horribly over the next few days. Or mutate one of our friends into a flesh eating monster that's going to go around devouring all of us in our sleep."

"Thanks Anya," Dawn responds. "That's just what I wanted to be thinking about."

"I found someone," Kennedy shouts out from the other side of the wreckage. She was staring down at the body of an extremely beautiful young woman in her early twenties. Her hair was a deep auburn color with a thick white stripe down the middle. She was wearing a gold and green skin tight body suit with some kind of utility belt at her waist along with a flight jacket. Aside from some dark smudges on her face and her hair being slightly mussed she doesn't look like she's hurt in the slightest. "She looks okay. I'm going to check for a pulse," she adds reaching down.

"Be careful," Willow warns from the lip of the small crater hole.

Rhane races with everything she has to reach the crash site, her hard nails clicking on the pavement. She has a terrible feeling that something bad is going to happen if she doesn't get there in time. So she pushes herself, driving herself beyond her physical limits, as she follows Annabelle's trail back to the house.

She hears the young girl's call, but she's still over half a mile away. With no other choice she pushes herself faster then just a moment earlier. She reaches the edge of the crater just as the dark hair girl touches Rouge's bare flesh, arches for a second and then collapses onto of Rouge.

Without waiting she leaps into the crater, shifting from wolf to human with no concern for the fact that she was nude. The only people around her right now were woman. She knows if the young girl stays in contact with Rouge for too long her psyche could be permanently trapped inside Rouge's head.

Willow saw the wolf leap and had been an instant from trapping it in a barrier of some kind when in the middle of its jump it shifts from a large red wolf to a nude red hair girl. She had seen Oz's transformation on more occasions then she cares to remember. This was nothing like that. It was a seamless transition from one into the other.

Rhane lands unconcern for the jagged pieces of wood and glass that slice open the soles of her feet. Scrambling the last few feet to her destination she grabs hold of Kennedy and hauls her off Rouge, careful not to touch the older woman's bare flesh. Looking up at the redhead standing at the edge of the crater, "if and it isn't too much of a bother do yea think there be a robe here about's that I could borrow till me own clothes get here?" She asks while trying to cover herself with her hands.

"Oh, um. Yeah," Willow says pulling her eyes off the young girl in the hole. Turning around to give her a little privacy she holds her hand out creating a thick bathrobe from nothing. It wasn't using her powers for a selfish reason. The girl was nude and it was cold and it would take too much time to run to their house and get a bathrobe from there. Gesturing with her hand she floats the robe down to her.

"Thank yea," Rhane says as she slips into the bathrobe.

"We have to get out of here," Wesley remarks, stating the obvious, as he staggers into Angel.

Angel nods to Wesley and Gunn as he feels the floor shift, "go," he tells them. He waits for a second watching them stumble their way to the emergency exits before he looks for Lorne. The green skin demon was still in almost the same place they had first appeared.

He was shielding the short crop redhead, that had somehow brought them here in the literal blink of an eye, from the falling debris with his own body. The girls life signs were faint. It was almost like she had simply run out of energy. Taking a deep, but otherwise unneeded breath, he quickly races across the heaving room relying solely on his vampire instincts to keep him taking the wrong step.

Managing to avoid the rubble that falls from the ceiling with as much skill as he manages to avoid thinking about how long before the floor gives way underneath them. With a quick glance at Colossus and the Beast, Angel sees that the floor directly around them has begun to sink as they continue to hammer away at each other. Seeing that Angel forces himself to move even faster.

Reaching Lorne's side Angel grabs hold of the green skin demon, "we have to go," he tells Lorne as he pulls him around slightly.

Lorne looks up at Angel shouting, "I can't carry her!"

The floor gives an alarming creak causing both men to look back at the emergency exit. They stare in horror as the seam at the base of the wall and floor begin to break apart. Small chunks of concrete start breaking off and falling to the level below.

Angel spins around. Grabbing hold of Rachel he slings her over one shoulder before draping Lorne over the other. He knows he only has one shot at this, the slightest mistake, the tiniest miscalculation would mean all three of their deaths. With a great heave he kicks out the closest window.

A man size chunk of ceiling brakes off crashing to the floor just behind him sending a spray of thick dust into the air. The floor shakes and rolls worse then any earthquake has ever caused it to. With loud grunts of exertion the two gargantuan warriors jockey for position as they continue to rain one tremendous blow after another down upon the other one.

Without a backwards glance Angel dives out the window. Trusting his supernatural; grace, agility, balance, speed, and luck he attempts to out race the crumbling twenty-five story high rise. With the roar of the building collapsing behind him loud in his ears he never takes his eyes off the ground below him as he runs like he's never run before.

It seems as if he's on the ground in seconds flat, but he doesn't stop even then. He knows he has to get out of the debris field and can only hope that Wesley and Gunn were smart enough to realize the same thing and had kept moving once outside the building. If they had gotten out of the building.

________________________________________________________________________

Long, Long Way From Home - Foreigner

It was a Monday  
A day like any other day  
I left a small town  
For the Apple in decay  
  
It was my destiny  
It's what we needed to do  
They were telling me  
I'm telling you  
  
I was inside looking outside  
The millions of faces  
But still I'm alone  
Waiting, hours of waiting  
Paying a penance  
I was longing for home  
  
I'm looking out for the two of us  
I hope we'll be here when they're through with us  
  
I was inside looking outside  
Oh the millions of faces  
But still I'm alone  
Waiting, hours of waiting  
I could feel the tension  
I was longing for home  
  
I'm looking out for the two of us  
And I hope we'll be here when they're through with us  
I'm coming home  
  
Monday, sad, sad Monday  
She's waiting for me  
But I'm a long, long way from home  
  
Sad, sad Monday  
She's waiting for me  
But I'm a long, long way from home  
  
Sad, sad Monday  
Oh she's waiting for me  
But I'm a long, long way from home

________________________________________________________________________

Jump, Jive, and Wail - Brian Setzer Orchestra

Baby, baby it looks like it's gonna hail  
Baby, baby it' looks like it's gonna hail  
You better come inside  
Let me teach you how to jive and wail  
  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail away!  
  
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale  
Papa's in the icebox lookin' for a can of ale  
Mama's in the backyard learning how to jive and wail  
  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail away!  
  
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male  
A woman is a woman and a man ain't nothin' but a male  
One good thing about him  
He knows how to jive and wail  
  
Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail  
Jack and Jill went up the hill to get a pail  
Jill stayed up, she wants to learn how to jive and wail  
  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail  
You gotta jump, jive, and then you wail away!


	2. Chap 2: Brave Strangers

__

Chapter Two: Brave Strangers

The four reality displaced individuals, three mutants and one witch stare at the vampire lying on the stone floor of the cavern. Kurt from the vantage point a few feet above the ground as he clings to the wall, Ororo just to the right side of his feet, Amanda at his waist with a foot or so between her and the taller woman, and Illyana at his left shoulder.

Spike looks around at his audience with amusement. This wasn't the first time the First had made him believe he was being rescued. Though normally it was Buffy coming to save him, or him managing to break loose all on his own. It had never tried using four people he had never seen before as his rescuers. It also had never left him lying on the floor either.

"He was dead," Kurt informs everyone from his spot on the wall.

Illyana smirks lightly as she looks up at the furry X-Man. "He still is," she tells him. "He's some kind of demon," the blonde says with a frown as she looks back down at Spike. "Only, he's got a human soul."

Amanda looks up at the younger girl with shock. "How?" She asks having never heard of anything like this before.

"I don't know," Illyana answers with a shrug.

"I won it," Spike snarls getting tired of people talking about him instead of talking to him. "Went out, fought for and won my soul back," he tells them sounding somewhere between proud and miserable.

Amanda moves back and around as Ororo takes a couple of steps forward and squats down at his waist. Spike frowns at the leather wearing, mocha skinned woman with the white mohawk as she speaks. He had thought her voice would be rough, with a punk edge to it, but her accent was crisp and clear with a lot of polish. "I should probably be asking what you are? Or possibly who you are? But I have the feeling it would behoove us all to leave this cavern as quickly as possible so if there is someplace you could suggest us taking shelter at we would be greatly indebted to you."

This was another first for the blonde vampire. Someone he just met not being terrified of him, actually asking his opinion. He can't help but smile at that. "Slayer's house," he answers her.

"That really doesn't help us," Illyana mutters.

"Thank you," Ororo says to Spike.

Spike's gaze shifts to the young blonde standing at his shoulder. He thought the girl was younger then Dawn but there was a darkness inside her that she just barely keeps locked away. She was the one that had known about his soul, was able to see it, or feel it. He didn't know which, just that she knew it was there.

The only other person that had been able to do that had been Anya while she had been a vengeance demon. He wonders if that is the darkness that he senses inside her. If she herself is some kind of demon struggling against her own dark nature.

"It's okay," Amanda says to the young girl. "A guiding should show us the way."

"Do you know how?" Kurt asks hopping off the wall to land at her side.

Amanda nods as she says, "mother showed me how when I was young. Just in case I ever lost my way."

"What I'm worried about is heading into the liar of something referred to as the slayer," Kurt tells Ororo voicing his opinion.

"Do you have another option?" Ororo asks locking eyes with her long time teammate and until her return from Africa the X-Men's field leader.

Kurt shakes his head slightly. "Doesn't mean I have to like the axiom the potential enemy of my enemy is my potential friend."

"Her name's Buffy," Spike tells them. "Slayer's just her tittle. As in vampire slayer, one girl, chosen to stand against all the forces of darkness. To stem the flood of evil into the world, though if you ask me the bint's doing a piss poor job of it lately."

"And you would be?" Ororo inquires.

"The one that keeps getting away," Spike replies. "Former arch nemesis turned alley turned..." He trails off weakly implying more then he meant to. More that these extremely intelligent and perceptive people pick up on quite easily. "By the way, name's Spike," he says forcefully drawing their attention away from his blunder.

Ororo smiles at his clumsy attempt to move the conversation along. "I am Ororo, my blue furred companion is Kurt Wagner. His lady Amanda Soften, and the child is Illyana Rasputin," she says introducing herself and her companions.

Rhane grimaces slightly as Dawn rubs the antiseptic into the wounds on the soles of her feet. "Sorry," Dawn murmurs.

The young red head shakes her head saying, "its not your fault."

"Well actually it is," Anya remarks as she carriers a pitcher of water upstairs without any further explanation.

The Irish girl watches the older woman as she ascends the stairs with curiosity. "Don't worry about Anya. She can be a little strange at times," Dawn informs her.

"I had not noticed," Rhane tells the brunette with a slight smile.

Dawn returns the smile as she begins wrapping the foot. "You're from Ireland right?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"My sister dated a guy from Ireland. Once... twice, but he didn't have the accent," Dawn explains.

"Then he must've either been away from his home for a very long time, or he had worked very hard to leave his roots behind him," Rhane answers sadly.

Dawn nods as she says, "I think its a little bit of both. Lot of bad memories."

Sensing Dawn's pain over the subject Rhane decides to change the topic of conversation. "You're very good at cleaning wounds," she compliments her.

Dawn shrugs saying, "when your sister's the slayer then you tend to learn these things."

The front door swings open, "manufacture pure sunlight." Giles voice echoes into the house just as he steps through the doorway.

Forge steps in behind him. The tall, lean Native American smiles slightly as he replies, "its a simple matter of mixing specific levels of the proper radations together, then filtering out any impurities and focusing it at the proper spectrum."

"And you just happen to know how to do all these things?" Giles inquires sarcastically.

"No," Forge admits, "I just happen to be able to build what I need when I need it." He spots Dawn in the pallor bandaging Rhane's feet. Brushing past Giles he asks, "what happened?"

"Comic books?" Kitty questions Xander skeptically.

The construction worker nods emphatically. "I've been reading them since before I knew how to read, well, okay. Willow use to read them to me back then, but I got them all. Hulk, Super-Man, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Justice League, Avengers, X-Men, X-Factor, Aqua-Man, Wolverine. I've read them all, got most off them."

Kitty shakes her head as she says, "this's just disturbing."

"Five guys with swords, you have to fight defensively," Buffy tells Logan.

"If you wanna be chopped into little bits then yeah, defensive is just the way to go," Logan disagrees playfully.

"Going offensive is just going to get you killed. Defensive you're in control."

Logan grins wolfishly as he responds saying, "we all have to work within our limitations."

"Or just not be smart enough to realize when something isn't working right," Buffy quips back lightly a moment before she heads up the stairs.

Molly closes the door as a very chagrin Annabelle walks past with her head hung low.

Logan gives a quick shake of his head moving into the pallor. Either way would work, the way that was chosen was more a reflection on personality. Because of his healing factor he could afford to play things a little looser when it came to combat. Made him more aggressively orientated. "How you doing kiddo?" He asks Rhane as he squats down next to her.

"I do not think I'll be running any races for the next few days," she replies.

"Kitty and Rupert went upstairs to check on Rogue and the other young girl," Forge tells Logan.

"Her name's Kennedy," Dawn informs the two men.

"The brunette followed them up as well," he adds as an after thought.

"His name is Xander," Dawn pipes up again plainly annoyed with the native American.

"And this is Dawn..." Rhane begins.

Logan nods as he glances at the brunette, his nostrils flaring slightly. "Buffy's kid sister right?" He asks cutting Rhane off.

The two feral mutants share a look, almost as if they're communicating silently with each other. "Okay. That's kind of freaky," Dawn says breaking the silence that seems to have settle over the room. She had the distinct feeling that she was the center of their private conversation. "You guys can see the real me can't you?"

"While I'm in my wolf form there is an almost green like mist that hangs about your body, but now you look like any other young girl," Rhane admits trying hard to make her voice soothing. The last thing she wants to do is hurt this kind girl.

"Your scent has a little something extra to it compared to most humans, then again so doesn't your sister. Even the two girls, Annabelle and Molly," Logan tells her.

Dawn's face pales at Rhane's and Logan's words. After Glory she thought that part of her life was over and all her hopes were for just being a normal girl whose sister just happens to be the slayer and they just happen to live on the hellmouth. Now these two come along and tell her it's still there. That she's still a freak.

"What the hell is going on?" Buffy demands seeing her sister's fear laced features. She hadn't seen that kind of abject terror marring Dawn's face since the days when Glory had been gunning for her. Like a lock clicking into place the pieces fall together. Rhane was a werewolf, Logan had senses superior to any animal known, according to the world of Xander.

Then Dawn confirms her worst fear as she says, "they know I'm still the key."

Angel was free to search for Gunn and Wesley now that he had gotten Lorne along with the tall redhead stashed away in a nearby motel. It was easier to put them someplace out of sight then to try to go unnoticed carrying an unconscious woman around. He spots Gunn first, his tall body and shaven head sticking out in the small crowd of onlookers.

"There he is," Wesley says to Gunn as he points out the approaching vampire.

Gunn turns to face Angel, "Lorne?" He asks seeing the vampire is on his own. 

"Safe," Angel answers quickly. "Him and the girl. The Beast and Steel Guy were still in the building when it collapsed so we should probably get out of here," he finishes as he hears the sirens. They were still a ways off but they were approaching quickly.

"Neither of you recognized him?" Gunn questions the two older men.

"No," Angel answers.

At the same time Wesley says, "I'm fairly certain if I had ever met a man who could transform his skin to steel I'd remember it."

"A nice simple no would've worked," Gunn tells him. "And it wasn't just his skin that turned to steel, but his entire body. That was Colossus from the X-Men, the girl was Rachel Summers. I thought I recognized them but that... I just about grew up reading their comics."

"You do realize how insane this makes you sound?" Angel questions doubtfully. "A comic book character fighting a demon. Not that it matters since they were both inside..." The vampire turns as he hears the rubble begin to shift and groan. It could just be it settling, but he doubts that. "...when the building came down on top of them."

Almost on cue a huge chunk of the collapsed building is hurled aside like a child's toy. Angel can just make out a lone figure through the dust. "Get ready," he says as the larger then human shape begins walking towards them. The person was still too far away to smell clearly, plus the wind was blowing in the wrong direction.

Within a few seconds though he can see light glinting off a metallic hide. His shirt was gone along with most of his pants as well as his boots, but otherwise he looks unharmed. "Come on," he says moving forward, "we still have to get out of here."

Colossus can just make out the three men rushing towards him. He scowls slightly not seeing Rachel among them.

"She's alright," Angel assures him once he's close enough. "She's with Lorne."

"I am in your debt then comrade," Peter says sincerely.

"Tell me the Beast is dead and we'll call it even," Angel replies seriously.

"Nyet," Peter growls as he shifts back to human. "The foul creature used some type of black magic to get clear of the building as it fell," he adds looking back at the rubble he had clawed his way out of. "I have taken his measure once, when next we meat I shall not hold back," he vows, his knuckles cracking loudly as he tightens his large hands into massive fists.

Angel blenches slightly at the statement as he takes in the destruction. If he was able to do that and claim he had been holding back Angel doesn't want to think about what he could do if he cuts loose.

Cordelia stares out the window of the building Conner had taken over and cleared out of pest that had infested it. It should have begun by now. It was suppose to be their night, but it couldn't happen if the mood wasn't set just right and there was nothing that set the mood better then an apocalypse.

"You seem anxious," Conner says from right behind her.

****

Master, the Beast calls her at almost the same moment. **I have failed**.

That was definitely not something she wants to hear. She puts her hand to her head as she turns around. Smiling at the young man she says, "I'm just worried about the gang. Everything just seemed so tense, and now with this Beast running loose. Only God knows what its going to do."

Conner shrugs dejectedly as he turns around saying, "I'm sure Angel can handle it."

"You're right," she replies. "Of course Angel can handle it. Its just," she starts placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, "what if they can't. What if they need your help."

Conner turns back around to face her. "You want me to leave you here unprotected?" He demands sounding incredulous.

Cordelia scowls indignantly at his comment. "I'm a big girl Conner. I can take care of myself and your father might need your help. Don't you think its about time you tried to make peace with him? Don't you think the fate of the world is just a little more important then your petty grudge?"

Conner glares right back but still he grabs his coat. "Fine," he snarls at her. "I'll go, make sure they're all safe. Then I'll be back," he tells her a moment before striding towards the door.

As it swings close Cordelia's scowl turns into a malicious grin at how easily Conner could be manipulated. She waits several minutes knowing the sensitivity of his hearing. "Meet me at the usual place," she tells her underling.

Images flash through Rogue's mind as the young woman struggles awake. Strange people; friends, family, lovers, enemies, creatures she knows she's never seen before, but she could name each and every one of them with confidence. It was a clear indication to the southern born mutant from the Mississippi Bayou that somebody had touched her, bare skin to bare skin.

Opening her eyes she takes a look around the oddly familiar room. It belongs to a tiny redhead, no bigger then Kitty, by the name of Willow Rosenburg. She feels a small smile creep across her lips as the image of a more then pretty young woman floats to the front of her mind. She shouldn't have been surprised, all of Kennedy's lovers had been women. The girl's first crush, at five, had been Scarlet O'Hara. Kennedy wasn't the first gay person she's absorbed and she doubts if she was going to be the last.

Sliding her feet over the side of the bed to the floor she's glad to notice that aside from removing her boots, flight jacket, and utility belt nobody had tried to undress her. If they had there would have been even more memories and personalities cluttering her already cluttered psyche and unless the professor or Rachel was close by she'd have a hard time maintaining her hold on her body.

It only takes her a few moments to put on the rest of her uniform. After that its a simple matter for her to stride across the floor and pull open the door. Thanks to Kennedy's memories she knew the layout of the house. Even if she hadn't there were half a dozen people standing in the hall, and again because of the young adult she recognizes everyone. Rupert Giles, watcher, Willow Rosenburg, witch and the woman Kennedy has a none to secret infatuation with, Anya, and Xander who are all talking to Forge and Kitty.

"Hey there guys," she says breaking into their conversation.

"Hey," Kitty greets cheerfully. "How are you feeling?" She inquires after a brief pause.

"Not bad considering I did a barely controlled reentry into somebody's house," she answers. "Nobody was hurt were they?"

Willow shakes her head, her dark red hair flipping slightly from the action. "No the house was deserted."

"Thank god for small miracles," she sighs. She feels that small appreciative smile of Kennedy's slip back over her lips as she gazes at Willow. She throws her head back slightly cursing the brunette softly as she turns away. Kennedy's personality was strong and while she didn't have to worry about the girl taking control of her body like Carol Denvers could do, she was still going to have to be on guard for the brunette's influence until she woke up.

It wasn't a major problem but it was still irritating since she has no desire to check out the petite redhead. Then just like that the brunette's presence, but not her memories, disappears from her mind. "Kennedy's awake," she tells everyone.

"How would you know that?" Giles inquires.

"It's because Kennedy is no longer fighting her for control," Xander explains.

The white stripe, wavy hair brunette looks at Xander suspiciously. "And just how the hell do you know that sugar?" She demands hotly.

Xander takes a step back sputtering slightly under her steely glare. He was just now beginning to understand that interacting with his comic book icons was completely different then reading their exploits in a magazine.

Giles plucks his glasses from his head in order to hide his smirk at Xander's predicament. Wiping them down with a handkerchief he remarks dryly, "perhaps we should table that discussion until we can gather everyone together. This way we won't have to go over everything more then once."

"Plus we still have more then half our teammates missing right now," Kitty reminds him.

"Of course will do everything in our power to reunite you with your friends," Giles replies smoothly.

Kennedy pulls open the door to Dawn's room with her left hand rubbing against her temple. "Somebody wanna tell me how I got up here?" She asks looking up at the gathering in the hall.

Willow blushes slightly as she says, "I sort of floated you."

Kennedy's lip quirk into cocky grin a moment before she suggestively inquires, "so was it good for you?" At which Willow's cheeks match her hair in coloring.

To the left of 1630 Revello Drive was a small crater where the remains of house lay scattered across the lawn. Ororo knocks lightly on the wood door of a rather ordinary looking two story house. Colored by her own personal experiences she had been expecting something a little more spectacular for a base of operation. The Avengers had their mansion, the Fantastic Four a tower, Doctor Doom had an entire country. Magneto, at one time or another, used an active volcano, a lost island, and asteroid for bases. Even their own home, Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a building they had dubbed the X-Mansion was more then what people saw. This house though was exactly what it appears to be.

Behind her, at the foot of the stairs, Amanda keeps the blonde vampire, Spike, floating in the air next to her. The witch thought he could have walked here by himself but didn't want to take the chance of being wrong. Kurt was squatting down on the porch railing.

Illyana looks around as if she was expecting something to jump out at her any moment. There was a vileness blanketing this town, slowly suffusing everything inside its boundaries with its dark evil energies. It wasn't the overwhelming evil that she grew up with in Limbo, but the type that would seep in slowly, over time, completely unnoticed while the person was corrupted by it. This town was definitely not someplace she wants to spend a lot of time in.

She turns towards the door as it swings open. Her eyes widening at the blonde standing just inside the doorway. She was human, totally and completely human, but her essence, her spirit was imbued with that of an immensely powerful demon.

"Can I help you?" Buffy asks looking up at the tall mocha skin woman that towers over her. Despite the white mohawk and the black leather clothing she was wearing she looks extremely mature.

"I believe we have an associate of yours," Ororo replies as she steps to the side slightly revealing Spike lying on his back about two feet off the ground.

"Spike!" Buffy shouts joyously, a huge smile splitting her face as she rushes forward. Ever since his capture he had been all she could think of. If not for Giles' arrival and Annabelle's running off and everything else she would have gone hunting for those that took him long ago.

"Oh my god," she gushes dropping to her knees at his side. "You're okay," she adds pulling him into a tight embrace. Suddenly she pushes him back down concern clouding her features as she demands, "you are okay?"

Kurt's tail swings back and forth lazily as Amanda climbs the stairs to stand at his side. He smiles lightly as he playfully remarks, "looks like somebody was holding back on us."

"I'm bloody wonderful. If these wankers would've let me up we would've been here a hell of lot sooner," Spike snaps more then irritated at being confined to a floating gurney of nothing he could see.

"You mean like mortal enemies being madly in love with each other?" She inquires sliding her arm over his shoulder.

"Ja," he replies giving her a quick kiss.

"Course they did save me from being a pinata for the First and some hokey looking vamp so I guess I can be little forgiving," he adds in a softer tone.

Ororo grins at Spike's minor outburst. More for the looks him and the blonde, she assumes is Buffy, are giving one another. The way that her hands unconsciously touch him checking his injuries. "It seemed a more prudent course of action considering the condition we found him in," she says answering her questioning look.

"Thanks," Buffy replies pulling Spike into a sitting position. He winces slightly causing Buffy to wonder about what condition he is truly in. At the same time she takes a look at the other three people that had brought Spike home to her.

One of them was obviously a witch of some power considering they had floated the bleach blonde vampire all the way home. A golden hair girl, a little taller then her and a little younger then Dawn whose right arm was encased in silver armor and she was carrying the purest silver bladed long sword. There was something about the sword that drew her eyes to it, like it was the most precious thing she had ever seen.

There was something about the girl as well. Something that made her skin itch. She had felt it even before pulling the door open, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Now staring at her she knew exactly what the source of her irritation is.

The only other times she had every felt anything like this was the two times she faced the Judge. Around the Mayor, but especially at graduation when he transformed. D'hoffryn was another demon that made her feel like ants were crawling all over her skin.

They all looked like creatures that should make a person's skin crawl.

This girl however looks like the quintessential golden ray sunshine that every parent wishes for. What she had been before being called as the slayer, only without the major bitch attitude.

"Girl's name is Illyana," Spike says into the prolong silence. "Seems she had a little talk with the first. Sent her packing right quick."

There was something about the girl she didn't trust but she doesn't say anything.

"The blue furred fellow's name is Kurt Wagner," Spike continues. He knew he was going to have to get Buffy alone later and find out what it was about the girl she didn't like.

Buffy shifts her gaze away from Illyana, but keeps the girl on her radar, to the demon on her railing just in time to see him vanish in a burst of smoke with a small implosion of air. He reappears an instant later at her side with another disruption of the air, a small cloud of sulfurous smelling smoke.

She reacts instinctive rising smoothly to her feet, but before she can do anything else Kurt gracefully takes her hand in one of his own. "Greetings most beautiful lady," he starts with a broad, sweeping, and extremely elegant bow over her hand, where he places a soft feather light kiss on the back of her knuckles. He rises back up giving her his most dazzlingly smile as he continues saying, "we are but simple travelers lost in a strange land. Your more then worthy gentleman thought it might be possible for us to prevail upon your most generous nature to provide us with shelter while we search for a way to return ourselves to our home. He has told us some of the perils you and your friends face and we would be more then willing..."

"Not to mention capable and able," Logan says from the doorway. "Already been over this part Elf, so you can stop your groveling," he continues as all eyes turn towards him.

"Logan!" Kurt shouts as he vanishes in another flash of odiferous smoke.

"But I liked his way of asking better," Buffy complains to Logan.

Kurt reappears even just as the first words leave Buffy's mouth. He wraps Logan up in a tight hug that the feisty mutant excepts with as good a grace as possible. Which means he doesn't skewer his long time friend on the spot.

"Illyana!" Kitty yells happily and simply runs through anyone standing between her and her best friend.

"It is good to see you well old friend," Ororo says placing a gentle hand on Logan's shoulder.

Illyana plants her sword in the ground a moment before Kitty crashes into her. "Thank god you guys are all right," the blonde murmurs squeezing the taller brunette tightly.

"These are the friends you mentioned?" Giles inquires a bare moment after Kurt releases Logan.

From just inside the door Buffy notices Forge eyes lock on the tall black woman, that must be Ororo the others have been talking about, their teams field leader. At first she returns his look with equal adoration, but then as if remembering something she can't forgive she stiffens under his gaze. He sees her reaction as well, a look of misery drifting into his eyes a moment before he turns away disappearing back into the house. There was something about the exchange that strikes her as oddly familiar but she just can't put her finger on it.

"Most of them," Logan answers. "No sign of Petey or Ray?"

"When the portal started disintegrating I thought..." Illyana starts.

"I know," Kitty cuts in.

"I can scry for them," Amanda tells them then turns to face Buffy. "Amanda Soften, the silver tongue devil's significant other. If it's okay with you I'd like to get started right away."

"But then we found ourselves here and figured if we were here then you guys couldn't be too far, but before we could search for another problem came up and then another," Kitty finishes with a slight shrug.

Buffy barely suppress a gasp hearing the woman admit to being romantically involved with a demon. Then she realizes she's practically sitting in Spike's lap with her arm possessively draping over his shoulder. "Yeah, sure, go ahead," she sputters to the older woman as she just about jumps away from Spike. "Willow will know where everything is that you'll need."

"Pretty much business as usual around here," Illyana quips lightly.

Kitty nods as she gestures to her armored arm asking, "what about that?"

"Pretty looking redhead with a good looking brunette in her hip pocket," Logan informs Amanda as she moves past him. Then the short man plops a hat down on top of Kurt's head and shoves a black leather duster into his hands. "Come on Elf."

"Somebody decided they didn't like my leadership skills," the blonde answers cryptically.

"Where are we going mien friend?" Kurt questions Logan suspiciously. Almost every time the two of them went off on their own he was the one that wound up in trouble.

"Great thing about California Elf, package stores never close," he answers hopping over the side railing since the stairs were still cluttered with people.

Kurt vanishes and then reappears at Logan's side asking, "we're going for a beer run?"

Spike makes to rise hearing Kurt's comment only to find Buffy's strong hand holding him in place. "And just where do you think you're going?" She inquires in an overly pleasant voice.

"When you hear what's going on around here you're gonna need one," Logan replies as the two of them walk towards Buffy's jeep.

"To make sure they get the good stuff," Spike answers gruffly.

Buffy shakes her head saying, "I don't think so. Until these wounds heal you won't be doing much of anything," she informs him sternly.

"I'm kind of disappointed," Logan continues as he pulls open the door. "For a house full of barely legal girls there wasn't a single drop of booze in the place."

Giles watches the two men drive away while he listens in on a few of the conversations going on around him. He clears his throat slightly to gather everyone's attention. "Perhaps it would be best if we moved this gathering inside the house before we attract any unwanted attention," he suggest pleasantly. With those simple words everyone that was congregated on the porch and front lawn begins filing into the house past him. Waiting until everyone one is inside he takes one final look around before swinging the door close.

The best word that Cordelia could use to describe the warehouse she was presently lurking her way through was dilapidated. A strong enough breeze could topple the building, or so it appears. She stops as she comes face to face with the behemoth known only as the beast, a slight frown marring her otherwise beatific face.

"I heard about your downtown renovations," she informs him coldly. "I didn't free you from your slumber party just so you could do a little urban remolding. Tonight was suppose to be the night. There are suppose to be fireballs falling from the heavens right now, Conner should be between my legs, and Angel should be seeing it all. Now why exactly aren't any of these things happening right now?"

"Forgive me master, but all was not as you foretold. They arrived before the ordained time and there was more of them. A man of steel in particular..."

"Super-Man's real?" Cordelia questions dumbly. "How come nobody bothered to tell me Super-Man was real?"

The Beast stops looking at her strangely as he asks, "who is this Super-Man?"

She shakes her head, "never mind just get on with telling me what went wrong."

"Angel, Gunn, Wesley, and the Host along with two other humans appeared just as I began to prepare the sacrifice..."

"What happened to the man of steel?"

"He was among the humans that I did not know as was a red hair girl of immense power," he answers his voice slightly awe filled. "She was the one that brought them there so quickly of that I am sure, but transporting everyone must have drained her energy for she collapsed just after arriving."

Cordelia holds out her hand, an image of Willow made from light forming in her palm. "Did she looks like this?"

He shakes his head answering her by saying, "no. Her hair was cut short in a boys modern style but with a long tail braided in the back. The man's strength was great. He was able to match me blow for blow. When next we meet..."

"You won't be meeting him again," she cuts him off. "My plan doesn't call for any new players getting involved at this point of the game. Especially not ones that can give you a good tussle." She turns away from him her finger tapping her bottom lip lightly as she mumbles, "there has got to be someway to keep them from getting even more involved then they already have become." Turning back around she asks, "was there anything that you saw to indicate a weakness of any kind."

"The man had to transform into steel otherwise he was flesh and blood. He seemed overly concerned for his fallen companion, but most humans seem overly concerned with the latter."

"And the girl was passed out," she says a smile forming on her lips. "I think I have just the thing to keep them both out of my way."

________________________________________________________________________

Brave Strangers - Bob Seger

Nights were warm   
Dreams were easy   
No one standing overhead   
Conversation didn't mean much   
We were hungry but could not be fed   
Radio blasting silly little love songs   
We only listened for the beat   
Taking our chances   
Out there on the mean streets   
Hiding in the shadows from the heat   
We weren't lovers just brave strangers   
As we fought and we tumbled through the night   
We were players not arrangers   
As we jammed till the dawn's early light   
Swimming in the big lake   
Taking it easy   
Taking any comfort we could find   
Didn't need the real truth   
Didn't need the meaning   
Straight ahead ignoring every sign   
Every sign   
And oh I remember I know you do too   
Oh that one evening   
I know you do too   
Baby   
I know you remember it too   
The moon was high   
Moon was flying high   
We were hiding in the backwoods   
Hiding out in the backwoods   
With the moon flying high   
My hand was shaking   
And you took my hand   
And it went all right   
And it went all right   
It went all right   
So we walked out hardly speaking   
Disappearing in the night   
Saw each other a few times after   
But we never really got it right   
We weren't lovers just brave strangers   
As we rolled and we tumbled through the night   
We were players not arrangers   
And we jammed till the dawn's early light 


	3. Chap 3: Synchronicity

__

Chapter Three: Synchronicity

Various sounding laughter from half a dozen different mouths within the Summers' living room echo throughout the house. Some soft, musical, almost tingling while others were coarse, harsh, nearly braying. Despite the unusual and highly strenuous and stressful circumstances of the situation the laughter was oddly light and carefree.

Illyana stares at the cards lying on the low coffee table. She can't believe she's lost. That somebody out bluffed her bluff, and that somebody happen to be Dawn, the ancient mystical energy someone had melded into human form. When she squints her eyes just right the slightly older girl shifts to a dazzlingly green ball of energy.

The tiny sunkissed blonde knew she was going to have to be on her guard in this place. Against humans her soul sword wouldn't cause the slightest injury, but magic. Magic it would unravel with the slightest scratch. It would take nothing more then a touch to unmake Dawn.

And the other three teenagers, Annabelle, Molly, and Kennedy. Who knew what would happen to them. Like Buffy they all had the essence of a demon interlocked with their spirits. Unlike Buffy there was an extremely delicate lattice work of magic interwoven between the two keeping them separate from each other. Her sword could break the spell but there was also the chance it would kill the girl at the same time.

Kennedy gives Dawn a friendly pat on the shoulder as she says, "way to go."

"It's about time somebody put that blonde hustler in her place," Molly gloats.

Illyana shrugs slightly. It was only the fifth hand, out of the twenty they had played, she had lost. It was the second Dawn had won. The other three had gone to Kitty.

"You did very well," Rahne comments with a smile. "Illyana does not lose very often. Hardly ever in fact."

"We're starting to realize that," Kennedy mumbles annoyance with the proceedings filling her voice. She was the one that was use to being the card shark at these sort of slumber party like gatherings. It was the reason she had suggested the game in the first place.

Plus it was the perfect way to flirt with four complete strangers. Kind of feel them out. Get a read on them.

Dawn, she wasn't sure about, more then likely she was straight, just self-conscious and feels the need to check out the competition to see how she stacks up against it. A lot of girls were like that, she knew she was.

Rahne is as straight as a bible thumper could possibly be, she wasn't a bad sort for someone as devoutly Christian as she is. Probably had a lot to do with living in a prejudicial society where people hate you, want to kill you, and exterminate your entire race for no other reason then the fact you exist. Kennedy could see how that would put the whole bigotry issue in its place.

"Mr. Logan is the only one to win a fair amount of games against her, so much so I often overhear him arguing with himself about bringing her along to his Friday night poker games. Only she's not old enough to gamble legally and Mr. Logan is trying to set a good example for the younger students," Rahne babbles feeling unusually comfortable in her surroundings.

Dawn tries to shrug the praise off as if it didn't matter only her coloring checks lets everyone know it does. "I used to play cards all the time with Spike," she tells everyone without adding that mostly they played gin or rummy. That this was in fact her first time playing poker.

Then there was Kitty and Illyana. Kennedy knew there was something between them. Something bonding them together. She would almost say something stronger then love, but she didn't really believe in true love or soulmates or love at first sight or anything else like that. Lasting relationships were things that have to built and worked at and given a lot of time and energy to maintaining.

"The vampire?" Kitty asks perking up a little more as she senses a good mystery that needs to be solved.

"Yeah, how did that soul thing come about anyway?" Illyana chips in still not quite believing the vampire's rendition of how he came to be in possession of a human soul.

Dawn looks at the tiny blonde with wonder as she blurts out, "you know about that?" She didn't think Spike was just going around and telling every person that he meets that he has a soul, but she had never thought he would go out and get his soul restored in the first place.

"Know about it," Illyana repeats with a slight chuckle. She was practically able to see it, all bright and shiny and kind of crammed in out of place. "You could say I know about it," she adds cryptically. She didn't think there was any reason to let anyone know that two people in the house had no souls of their own. One the brunette sitting in front of her and the woman, she couldn't remember her name, that had been a demon.

Believing the two of them were best friends. That was easy. They made it look easy with the bantering and playfulness, it was almost like watching two people flirt without knowing they were flirting. There was still more to it then that. It was there in how Illyana looks at the older brunette. Short, brief glances that wouldn't be seen unless someone was watching for them. They were the kind of glances that scream you're the sole reason for my existence. If not for you I'd be better off dead type of looks. Only Kennedy wasn't even sure Illyana knew she was giving them.

Illyana feels Kennedy's dark eyes lingering on her. Turning her head away from Kitty she turns her questioning blue eyes on the raven hair brunette just as the older girl looks elsewhere. When Kennedy looks back up from getting a handful of chips Illyana's eyes are still on her making her feel like trapped badger.

Before either could say anything the front door bangs open softly allowing Xander to partially stumble, partially stagger into the foyer lugging a pair of standard document storage boxes. Seeing the girls sitting in the living room he turns in that direction, taking a couple of steps he sets the boxes down on the floor by the arm of the sofa.

"What kind of research stuff did Giles have you bring back?" Dawn asks a bright smile bursting over her face.

"Giles, shmiles," Xander pants slightly as he straightens up knuckling his back. "He'd never think to look here for information as to what brought your totally unannounced house guest... And doesn't that just sound like an awesome title for a horror movie? Unannounced House Guest, get one of the Baldwin brothers, or heck get all of the Baldwin..."

"Xander," Dawn cuts him off with a slight whine.

"Right," he responds regaining his focus. "Kind of got sidetracked there for a moment," he adds with a slight embarrassed shrug. "Anyway I thought these might be able to help you guys figure who trapped you here," he declares a moment before he pulls off the lid of one box revealing maybe two hundred comic books.

"Comic books?" Annabelle mumbles softly.

"Hey I'll have you all know these are jam packed full of useful information not to mention relevant social commentary," he defends plaintively.

"Plus they have lots well endowed, super model like, incredibly gorgeous woman running around in the tightest, skimpiest, most revealing outfits imaginable to the mind of men every where," Kennedy says with a large, dreamy smile splitting her face in two. "What?" She questions seeing everyone staring at her. "Why else do you think I'd read them?"

Deciding that maybe Kennedy had said a little too much Xander pleads, "and I got about six more boxes out in the car if any of you super powered young girls would mind helping out the average ordinary guy?" The seven girls roll their eyes almost as one entity after sharing a brief look. Xander shrugs lightly almost apologetically as he mumbles, "they're heavy and its a long walk up the driveway, and... Did I mention they're heavy?" He asks hoping they'll pick up on the hint.

"This way to the fridge Elf," Logan tells Kurt walking through the open front door. A heavy wooden crate full of a variety of whiskeys and bourbon balanced on his left shoulder while he carries a thirty pack of Moosehead Lager in his right hand. "Gonna have to clear ourselves a space in the fridge, but since its mostly rabbit food it shouldn't be that great of a loss."

Giles grunts lightly as he helps Forge settle the large bathroom mirror onto the dining room table. "Here you go," the watcher says straightening with a small wince.

"Thanks guys," Amanda replies with a smile while running her fingers over the glass' smooth surface. "This is just what I need."

Willow glances between the mirror and Amanda. She wasn't quite sure if she understood correctly what the other witch was planning on doing. "So this is some kind of locator spell?" She finally asks.

"Scrying," Amanda replies with a shrug.

Giles turns back, his eyes lit with a hungry light. From what he understands there are very few people with both the magical skill coupled with the mental discipline necessary to do a scrying spell. Certainly never one as young as Amanda.

"Kind of. It'll show me what I'm looking for, in this case my friends, what's going on where they are, let me see if they're all right, in danger. Once I know they're in this reality I'll be able to do a locator spell," she explains.

"And you do all this with a mirror?" Giles inquires stepping back up to the table. He's a little startled with how open Amanda is with the particulars of her magic to near complete strangers. Most practitioners guard their secrets jealously.

Amanda nods in reply to his question. "Any reflective surface will do though; water, silver, a mirror," with a shrug she adds, "even a pain of glass. The more reflective the surface the clearer the image will be. If the witch or sorcerer is powerful enough they can even use it for communicating over vast distances. Some can even use it to glimpse the future," she finishes in awe.

"What about you?" Willow asks.

Again Amanda shrugs. "If I'm lucky, we'll get a clear picture," she answers with a little grin. "I've been hanging around with Kurt to much," she mumbles under her breath. Raising her voice she adds, "I should be more then capable of finding them. If not, Illyana has the strength."

"That would be the young teenager you arrived with? The one with her arm encased in armor," Giles questions. Amanda nods as she runs her hands over the mirror. "She seems a trifle young to have the level of power you're insinuating."

Amanda lifts her eyes to make a closer inspection of the older man. "Don't let her age mislead you. Illyana can take care of herself," she says in a hard tone.

"I'm sure she can," Giles replies warily finding the young girls presence to be slightly disquieting. If Ororo's accounts could be believed then she had already faced off against the First Evil and dealt it a serious blow. He, however, was having a hard time believing it. The First was an incorporeal being of immense, incalculable power. To think that a fourteen year old girl could deal it a serious blow was outrages.

"How does it work?" Willow asks wanting to bring the discussion back on track.

Amanda smiles, grateful for Willow's intervention. "You need to know the person your scrying for, or have something of theirs in your possession," she answers still running her fingers along the surface of the mirror, but never touching it. "You need to concentrate on what you want to see."

"Is there any incantation?"

Amanda nods again. "I'll write it down for you once we're done here. Hopefully you can read German," she finishes in a light murmur.

Willow's eyes widen slightly at the comment. "Latin I'm good with. Ancient Sumerian I can handle. But I don't think I've ever had to translate German before?"

"Don't worry. I know a spell that'll translate any language you don't read to your native one," Amanda replies.

"That must come in handy," Giles remarks.

Amanda grins as she murmurs, "you have no idea."

Angel sighs softly as he hops up the steps leading into the Hyperion. Lorne close on his heels with Peter, easily carrying Rachel in his massive arms, right behind him. On the street Wesley and Gunn drive their borrowed Cadillac off so they can dump it a few blocks away.

Lorne glances at Angel as the vampire pushes the door open. "We still need to find Fred, plus let Cordy and the little nipper know what we're up against. Seeing how I doubt if we're done dealing with this Beast," he says as he comes to a stop after entering the hotels foyer. Seeing Peter walking towards him he swiftly steps aside.

"I know," Angel answers while holding the door open for Peter. "But we have injured to see to..."

"Rachel merely needs rest," Peter says looking down at Angel. "She used much of her strength extricating us from our previous predicament. She was near exhaustion before transporting us, but she felt the risk needed to be taken considering what was at stake."

Angel looks slightly confused as he says, "I never heard her say any of that. And trust me, I would've heard."

"Not unless you are telepathic my friend," Peter says with a slight smile. "And a powerful one at that," he adds after a brief pause. "Go, gather your friends before the Beast can exact his revenge on those you care about. I shall see to the safety of your comrades if he should attack here."

"You sure you're up to it?" Angel asks without thinking and before he can stop himself. Peter gives him a questioning look. Angel gives his head a slight shake as he says, "right. Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to. Lorne you want to get a room set up for Rachel."

"Not a problem boss man," Lorne answers stepping down into the lobby.

"She can use mine while Lorne's setting it up," Angel adds.

"Thank you my friend. I am in your debt," Peter says solemnly.

Angel gives his head a sharp shake. "If it wasn't for you and Rachel a lot of people would have lost their lives tonight. If somebody is in anyone's debt, I'm... We're in yours. I might not know where you came from or how you got here, but as long as you're here you've got a place to stay. Whatever I can do to help you get back home I'll do."

"Wow," Connor breathes out from the foot of the carpeted stairs. The sound of his voice causing Peter to tense as he shifts Rachel's weight in his arms while he turns subtlety to take the young man in from head to toe. "That was actually touching," he adds mockingly. "Now just don't forget the part where if he does something to upset you, you kick him out. Or just try to kill him."

"Connor," Angel begins in a hard, quiet voice.

Peter stiffens even more, if that is possible at the tone of Connor's voice and his harsh words. "I'd show some care with the words you chose before I take offense and teach you proper manners."

Connor smirks at the thought as he asks, "you think you can?"

"Da!" Peter spits out turning to face the boy.

Angel lightly touches Peter's arm as he says, "its okay Pete. He has cause, not to mention a few reasons," he tells the young mutant that towers over him without taking his eyes of his son. "You're hurt," he says without preamble.

It takes Connor a moment to pull his eyes off Rachel after realizing Angel had said something to him. He couldn't help it. There was just something about the young girl that he felt drawn to.

Almost kinship.

Even asleep she looks guarded. Tense. As if she expects to wake up from a nightmare only to discover it had been a dream and she is living the nightmare.

Its a feeling he is all to familiar with. He experiences it almost every waking hour.

Peter sees the lingering look and his scowl deepens. Hardens.

"I'll heal," he says without looking up at Angel.

Peter takes the opportunity to step down the stairs and enter the lobby proper.

"I was worried about you," Angel says with as much warmth as he can.

"I can take care of myself," Connor replies defensively.

Angel nods saying, "I know you can."

"I don't need you checking up on me," Connor tells him. Even though he shifts under Angel's gaze he never lowers his eyes.

Angel exhales softly as he gives his head a brief, resigned shake. "I wasn't checking up, just giving you the heads up. There's a new demon. Big, rock like hide, horns out the top of his head.

Connor manages to keep himself from giving a visible reaction as he says, "I know. What do you think broke my rib?"

Angel feels his concern for Connor skyrockets. It takes an almost physical effort to keep from reaching out to his son. He knows showing any kind of concern over his welfare is more then likely to make Connor bolt. "You fought it," he demands.

"I was there when it burst up out of the earth in the same alley, the very spot I was born," Connor hisses.

"Is Cordelia alright?"

Connor gives Angel a sharp nod. "She was the one that insisted I come here. To see if you needed my help. I'm surprised you're in such good shape?"

"That's more Peter's doing then mine," Angel begin finally stepping inside and letting the door swing close behind him. A small slips over his lips as Connor's head whips around to where the large Russian is climbing the stairs. He could almost see the wheels turning in Connor's head as he begins reevaluating Peter. "The beast was tossing all of us around like rag dolls, but Peter there went toe to toe with it. The two of them brought the house down. Literally."

Connor swallows hard as he turns back around. A small hint of fear tinting his scent. Without thinking about it he mumbles, "do I chose the wrong people to piss off or what?"

Buffy continues to shoot furtive glances at Ororo as the two of them take a slow walk through her house. The taller woman was so self assured and self possessed that it seems as confidence seeps out of her pores. That the very air she exhales is able to turn chaos to order.

"How do you do it?" She finally asks.

Ororo looks down at her, a slight quirk to her eyebrows. "Do it?" She replies.

"Lead," Buffy clarifies quickly. "I mean nothing seems to faze you. Here you are, in a different reality and you're calm, cool, collected. Totally and completely unfazed."

"Is that what you think?" Ororo asks a slight twist to her lips.

"Its what I see," Buffy answers.

Ororo nods at Buffy's response as they stop between the den and the dining room. "I have spent many years containing my emotions, of not letting the smallest scrap of what I feel effect me, or the world around me," she begins explaining but stops when she sees Buffy's questioning look. "when I was younger then your sister is now," she starts again. "Thirteen or fourteen," she adds with a slight shrug unsure of exactly how old she was at the time, "my powers began manifesting. A sudden lightening strike on a cloudless day. A gust of wind or a freak thunderstorm that would spring up out of nowhere. I paid no attention to these, but soon I felt myself drawn out of Cairo and onto the Savannah.

"In that vast grassland I nearly died." She stops to take a slight breath. "I also became aware of the fact that I could control the weather. Wrap the elements to my will, my desires. The natives thought me a Goddess and I believed them."

Her small smile is nothing more then a small up turning of the corners of her lips. To Buffy it looks more like a grimace then a smile. "Me? A Cairo street urchin, beggar, and best thief in all of Egypt a goddess. I eat up the attention. I relished it," she admits softly.

"Who wouldn't?" Buffy says in wonder. She knew a little something about the temptation of power and abusing it.

"Who indeed?" Ororo agrees as she looks down the short hallway. "One day I lost my temper. I sudden storm sprang up out of nothing. Larger then anything I had ever created before. Its ferocity knocked me back to my senses, but by then the storm had a life of its own. The villagers begged and pleaded with me. I tried desperately to bring the raging fury I had unleash to heel, but it was too powerful. There was nothing I could do but wait it out like everyone else. Two days of torrential rain, wind, lightening, hail."

She gives her head a small, heartfelt shake as she still remembers those few days. "Three people died, a mother and her two children, a daughter and a son. And it was my fault," Ororo says as she turns her head to lock eyes with Buffy. The anger and loathing in her voice still present even after all these years. "When the villagers asked me why I had let it happen I gave them the only answer I could as their goddess. Because it was my will," she finishes in a stern tone.

"Wow," Buffy breathes out lowly. That put a whole new perspective on things. "The most I have to worry about is breaking somebody's jaw if I hit them too hard," she says in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Ororo gives Buffy a wane smile. "After that I held myself apart from the villagers. When they needed a miracle from me they came to an altar they erected at the base of a small mountain I took for my own. I learnt how to use my powers, refined my control, and kept my emotions on a short leash. That is until lately. I have begun to loosen up considerably in recent months," she finishes earnestly.

Buffy's eyes widen fractionally at the admission wondering what the woman must have been like if this was loosened up. Before she can say anything Forge ducks out of the dining room closing the door behind him softly. His eyes light up as he spots Buffy while next to her she can sense Ororo stiffen. A bare tensing of her body but more then enough for Buffy to notice. Just like how Forge's eyes flicker towards the X-Men's leader briefly before landing back on her.

"Just the two people I need to see," he says enthusiastically. Trying, and failing to keep his light charcoal colored eyes on Buffy. "If I'm going to have any shot at finding a way to get us back home I'm going to need a little space to work in. Now I know you don't have a lot of options here..."

"You can use the basement," Buffy cuts in with a shrug. "Its not much..."

"It'll do," he interrupts before she can finish. "I'm also going to need a computer. If you know if there's a place that I can scavenged some components I think I can whip something up..."

"Willow's got a laptop. I'm sure she'd be willing to loan you," Buffy breaks in.

"The tiny redhead?" Forge inquires. Buffy bristles slightly at the description of her friend since Willow is taller then her, but considering the fact Forge is taller the Ororo, who is close to six feet she realizes she doesn't have anything to be angry over. "Her and Amanda are currently in a full blown discussion on magic, and since I like my head attached to my shoulders I think I'll pass on asking her."

Buffy nods at the statement. She thought she heard just a little hint of scorn on the word magic but she wasn't sure. "Dawn will know where the laptop is then."

"And I need about two million in operating capital," he finishes with a completely serious expression.

Buffy's face drains of color in a heartbeat as a frantic, "what?" Shoots out of her mouth.

Before Forge can repeat his statement Ororo grabs hold of his bicep. "Check with Logan. See if him or Kurt have any semi-legitimate ideas on how to come up with that kind of money."

Buffy could hear a distinct change in Ororo's voice between talking to her and her talking to Forge. Right now her tone is stoic. Completely business like and devoid of any feelings where as a few minutes ago it was full of emotion. Mostly anger, bitterness, regret, compassion, and remorse.

"Do you have any idea how to return us to our world?" She questions with a tone as sharp as a knife edge.

"A few, but its going to take some time," he assures her in a voice thick with painful emotions. "It'd help out if I knew what happened for us to get stranded here."

Buffy felt like she should turn away. Only she couldn't. It was like flipping through the channels and coming across one of those cheesy, daytime soap opera her mother liked to watch so much. You want to change the channel, but something stays your hand.

"Do what you have to, but remember we are guest here," Ororo says letting go of his arm.

He gives her a slight nod before he goes to turn away. In the middle of his turn he stops and shifts back to face them again. "I almost forgot. Peter and Ray are in L.A. They're with some guy, Angel. Willow says you'd have the number."

"How did they look?" Ororo demands.

Forge gives her small shrug before answering. "Like they'd been in a fight. Ray was out cold, Pete was missing his shirt, But other wise... They didn't look hurt."

Ororo nods. "Don't let Logan get to creative. We don't need to upset the local authorities if we don't have to."

"Will do Boss Lady," he says to Ororo before turning his attention back to Buffy. "And I'll try not to take up too much space in the basement," he tells her before brushing his way between the two woman.

Buffy watches Ororo as Ororo watches Forge walk away with longing in her eyes. "You really love him," she murmurs quietly.

"Its complicated," Ororo replies without looking at Buffy.

The tiny Slayer gives a short bark of a laugh as she says, "tell me about it. I'm the queen of complicated relationships."

This time Ororo does look back at her with a quirked eyebrow. "I suppose you are considering who holds the strings to your heart."

Buffy blinks as she blurts, "what?"

"It can not be easy maintaining a relationship with a mortal enemy," she adds after a small pause. "But I suppose anything is possible if the love you feel is strong enough to endure."

"You think me and Spike..." Buffy starts off but stops with a quick glance at Ororo's knowing look. "All right we had a thing, a very brief thing that ended a while ago. We're friends. Good friends and that's all we are."

"Somebody sounds like they're protesting just a bit too much," Rogue says from where she's leaning against the wall at the end of the corridor near the pallor.

At the first sound of Rogue's voice Buffy's head snaps around to face the brunette. She was still finding it hard to believe the young woman was responsible for the destruction of the house next doors. Plus she had walked away without a scratch or breaking a nail or even tearing her green and yellow form fitting, skin tight, body suit.

Rogue wasn't that much bigger then herself. Three or four inches and about twenty pounds, but the girl is a living powerhouse.

Buffy's light glare is still enough to give Rogue a little pause. She matches the blondes scowl with a small, knowing smile. "Relax sugar. I ain't gonna say anything if you like living in the land of denial. I just stopped by to let you know that Xander follow brought in just about every comic you ever heard of and the youngsters have fallen to them like a pack of ravenous dogs."

"But not you?" Buffy asks curiously.

"Please I grew up with a precog. You have any idea what its like being grounded before you did anything wrong." She gives her head a mild shake as she adds, "the last thing I need is any more glimpses of the future."

Buffy glances at Ororo and asks, "aren't you worried about altering the future?"

"No," Ororo answers without hesitation. "This is hardly the first time we have gained an insight to our future. It is not as detrimental as you might think since the future is not set in stone. In fact the future is almost like a living creature reacting to the actions you take."

Buffy blinks a little at Ororo's statement. "Scary part. I understood that."

"Um, excuse me," Andrew calls out from the den. "Whoever's out there. Anyone, please. I really, really have to use the little boys room."

Ororo and Rogue peek into the den with curiosity. After seeing the young man tied to the chair they both look back at Buffy with questioning gazes.

"That's Andrew," Buffy says before they can ask anything. "My hostage."

"I prefer guestage," Andrew calls out. "I was part of the Trio. We were Buffy's arch nemesis," he finishes with pride.

Buffy rolls her eyes slightly at Andrew's response. "More like annoying nuisances," she corrects loud enough for him to her hear. In a softly, more compassionate voice she adds, "more recently he was the dupe of the First Evil."

Ororo nods having had a brief encounter with the entity that calls itself the First Evil. Rogue simply shrugs not really all that concerned with why Buffy has someone tied up in her den.

"So you want that phone number so you can get in touch with your friends?" Buffy asks after a brief pause. Ororo nods and the three women move away from the den's doorway.

Inside the den Andrew squirms in his chair trying to look over his shoulder. "Guys," he calls out. "Guys, hey guys. Come on, please. I'm serious. I really need to use the little boys room. I'm noting joking here. Please!"

Forge looks from the laptop's screen to Logan his eyes alight with amazement at the feral mutant's accomplishment. "How..." He begins in a stammer. It wasn't the only thing that had taken away his ability to speak in the last few minutes.

The laptop itself had done that as well. Its size. Its computing power. They had nothing comparable to it on their Earth.

Forge still couldn't believe in less then a decade the computer was going to become a household item. For them the home computer was the province of the extremely rich or the eccentric. Now that he knew what direction the industry was heading it wouldn't be that hard to garner himself a strong foothold.

"The realities might change," Logan begins as he raises his Moosehead Lager to his lips and takes a healthy pull. "But Governments, and the people running them, never do," he finishes.

Kurt gives his head a slight shake as he shifts his stance uncomfortably. "Mien friend, you do realize you just broke into the CIA?"

Logan grunts again as he takes another swig off his lager. "Its a defunct branch. Back in the day it was a watershed funding some of their nastier ops."

"Its still the CIA," Forge mutters. "I doubt if they're going to be to happy with us borrowing a few million dollars."

Logan glances up as he stops scrolling down the screen. A wolfish light gleaming in his eyes. "That's the beauty of it. As far as anybody is concerned none of this is even suppose to exist. Means nobody is going to come looking for it."

"How do you even know about this?" Forge questions the man standing in front of the computer.

Logan doesn't bother answering the question as he starts to scroll back down the screen. "Isn't this interesting," he murmurs.

"What?" Forge asks angry at Logan's reticent to answer his previous question. If he didn't know better he would have thought Ororo sent him to Logan simply out of spite.

"Looks like someone was funneling a lot of money into Sunnydale a few years back. Ended about six months into the new millennium, but for the previous six years... One point seven billion in construction, six hundred and twenty-five million payroll."

"Mien God," Kurt breathes out in a soft whisper. "Look at their utilities."

Forge whistles lowly. "Think somebody left more then just the air conditioning on?"

"Special operations? I wonder what that was for," Kurt murmurs softly as he leans in for a closer look.

"Is there any way to dig deeper? Find out what they were working on, where they were working?" Forge demands insistently.

"Probably," Logan says turning away from the computer. His shoulder hitting Forge, bumping him back slightly as he walks away from the little breakfast island and makes his way over to the fridge saying, "but you'll need a better hacker then me to break their encryption." Reaching the refrigerator he finishes of his bottle.

"Did somebody say something about needing a hacker?" Buffy chirps as her, Ororo, and Rogue enter the kitchen. "What the hell?" She squawks seeing what's been done to her refrigerator.

Logan swings the door close after pulling out another bottle of lager. "Had to rearrange the fridge a bit to make room for the supplies," he informs her twisting the cap off completely unfazed by Buffy's death glare.

"Where the hell's my food?" Buffy demands swinging the door back open.

"I told you she wasn't going to be happy," Kurt reminds Logan in a soft whisper.

"You actually ate that? Thought you had a rabbit farm out back I hadn't spotted yet," Logan quips. If possible Buffy's glare hardens even more as she continues to stare at him.

As quietly and unobtrusive as possible Forge gathers the laptop from the island and makes his way to the basement door as he senses a major confrontation coming.

Logan polishes off his current bottle in one long pull.

"Logan," Ororo says a mild warning in her voice.

"What is it with men and their booze?" Buffy wonders aloud with a disgruntle shake of her head. Shifting her gaze back to Logan she again glares at the little man as he plucks another bottle from the still open refrigerator door. "Look I don't care if you keep a few beers in here, six or seven, but the rest come out..."

"Sure enough darling," Logan drawls twisting the cap off his bottle. Swinging the door shut he adds, "ain't a Brit. Like my beer with a little chill." He takes a short swig from his lager. "About an hour it'll be cleared out."

"We are guest here Logan," Ororo begins her voice hard enough to drive nails.

At the same time Buffy starts, "I'm not going to put up with a drunk."

"I expect you to treat our hostess with the same respect you would the Professor, Scott, or myself," Ororo finishes in a tone she normally reserves for combat situations.

Often dealing with Logan can be considered a combat situation.

Kurt leans closer to Rogue as Logan's scowl shifts between Ororo and Buffy. In a soft voice he whispers, "do not try this at home young viewers. Those are trained professionals, with years of experience in handling the unpredictable and highly volatile Wolverine."

Rogue laughs softly then hides her smile behind a gloved hand as three sets of hard stares swing towards them. Kurt swallows hard under the three pairs of eyes, two dark, one light. "Unglaublich! I just remembered something that requires my immediate attention. Auf Wiederesehen," he says and vanishes with a slight pop of displaced air and leaving a small stream of sulphurous smoke.

"You know, I think I'm just going to check on the girls. Make sure they ain't getting themselves into any mischief," Rogue tells them. She didn't bother to hide her tiny grin as she took her time walking out of the kitchen.

With her departure Logan returns as the main focus for both Buffy and Ororo's heated stares. "Five minutes Logan," Ororo orders.

"And I want everything put back the way it was," Buffy demands.

"That's going to be kind of hard darling," Logan says keeping his wolfish grin in place. Ororo wants him to give her the same respect he gives to her or Chuckles or Cyke. Fine. He could do that.

Once she earned it.

She was off to a fairly good start. She wasn't backing down from him.

"And whys that going to be a problem?" Buffy demands biting off each word.

His grin widens slightly. A bare moment before he says, "cause I used the rabbit food to feed the rabbits."

"Rabbits!" Anya shouts from just inside the kitchen entryway. She had entered just in time to hear the last part of Logan's remark and stopped in her tracks. Her eyes dart from place to place as she tries to see everywhere at once. "When did you get rabbits? Where are they?" Not seeing any she looks up eyes locking with Buffy. "You keep those little buggers away from me." With that she turns and flees from the kitchen like all the hounds of hell were hot on her heels.

Her hasty exit leaves the two X-Men sharing baffled looks while Buffy drops her head in shame. She had wanted to show these heroes from an alternate reality, that her and the scoobs function like a well oiled machine. It would be great if she could earn the respect and admiration from a group of her peers.

Next on her list would just be keeping them from thinking her and her friends are insane.

Then again the X-Men didn't appear to be the cohesive group Xander made them out to be. Forge's and Ororo's desire for each other was as hot as molten lava. Anyone that saw them could see that. Only when they were around each other it felt like a glacier was in the room between them.

Logan barking at anyone in charge. Pushing, pulling, and prodding them as much as he possible can and still never back down.

Kurt wisecracks. Obviously he was the groups comedian, sort of like Xander. Only the blue furred mutant was also a smooth, suave, and flamboyant showman. Something Xander could never be.

Rogue was an enigma. Covered nearly head to toe, for everyone's safety. Knowing she can never touch anyone she still flirts with everyone. A gentle heart that she protects with a hard shell of indifference.

Kitty reminds her of Dawn a little. Or maybe that was what she hopes Dawn would grow into when she got older. Smart, strong, confident in herself. Odd since Dawn was actually the older of the two of them. As long as you go by Dawn's physical appearance and not the moment of her creation two and a half years ago.

Rahne just reminds her so much of Tara, not physically. The two couldn't be more different in that department. But their make-up; gentle, caring, compassionate, not a mean bone in her entire body, and always thinking of others. It was almost painful being around the young girl.

Amanda was almost exactly what the doctor ordered. Not nearly as powerful as Willow, but sure and confident in her abilities without coming across as arrogant. Maybe with a little luck she would be able to restore her friend's confidence after the fiasco with the locating spell Willow tried. Or maybe build it back up.

Seeing Willow so unsure, almost afraid of herself was tearing her up inside. She needs to be cautious of her power, of what she can do with it. Not so terrified she's a detriment instead of an asset.

That's just playing into the First's plans for them.

And Illyana.

The girl is just evil, rotten to her core. No ends, ifs, or buts about it. Being around the girl made her skin crawl.

The only other time she had felt anything so strongly was around the Mayor. A human being towards the finally stages of an Ascension.

Only Illyana is a fourteen year old child.

Absently Buffy wonders what could have possibly happened to the girl to make her feel like that. She suspects it must have been something extremely traumatic. Life altering.

The Mayor had been a century old, if not older. He had sold his soul, plus who knows what else.

Even with as evil as Illyana feels she didn't seem like the kind of person who would up and sell their soul on a whim.

Buffy gives her head a slight shake pulling herself out of her reverie and back to the problem at hand. She actually felt a little better about herself as she comes to realize one simple thing.

The X-Men might be heroes, but the people were just that. People. Individuals. Each with their own quirks and personalities that make them unique.

With a final, hesitant step Fred stops just outside the room Lorne had put Peter and Rachel in. Lorne had spent the last ten minutes filling her in on everything that happened after her fight with Charles. Lifting her left hand, her right hand holding the forgotten portable phone, she taps lightly on the wooden door.

If who was on the other side of the door that Lorne claimed was on the other side it could prove or disprove countless theories about traveling, not just the temporal stream, but the spatial boundaries as well. Crossing hundreds if not thousands of different realities. Maybe even slipping from one universe into another.

The door swings open slowly just as she was contemplating knocking again. A large body nearly as broad through the shoulders as the doorway is wide and not very much shorter then the seven foot high frame.

Fred looks up and up until her eyes finally reach the rugged, square jaw face with the smooth cheeks and the sad brown eyes. "Hi," she chirps excitedly. "Peter right?"

"Da," Peter says with a slight nod.

"Oh wow," she gushes. "This is like... This is like the most amazingly, incredible thing that's ever happened to me, well aside from the whole being rescued from this rather lovely little hell dimension I was stuck in for a few years. But this is right next to that," she finishes softly under the large man's impeccable gaze. "And I bet you're wondering just what it is that I'm doing up here talking your ear off?"

Peter nods saying, "da. It has crossed my mind," he adds stepping back and pulling the door all the way open. Fred is slightly amazed by how smoothly he moves for someone so big. "Please, come inside."

Fred smiles as she steps across the threshold. "You know you should be careful about who you invite inside," she says as an after thought while turning to face him.

"Vampires," he replies swinging the door close.

"Oh," Fred gasps remembering the phone in her hand. "I forgot," she says holding the phone out to him. "Its for you."

"Thank you," Peter responds taking the phone.

"Welcome," Fred returns with a nervous little curtsy.

"Hello," Peter says into the phone as Fred moves away to give him a little privacy.

"Hello little brother," Ororo's voice greets him from out of the phone.

A smile blooms on his face. "Ororo," he exclaims softly. "Are you well? Are any of the others with you?" A questioning frown slips over his lips as he asks, "how did you know where to find me?"

Fred smiles at the rapid burst of questions as she takes a slow, meandering stroll through the room. Lying on the bed, her body covered with a light quilt that is tucked up under her chin, was the young woman Rachel Summers. She looks so peaceful just laying there.

"Amanda did a scrying. As our luck would have it the young lady we are staying with has had dealings with Angel in the past. Allowing us to get in touch with you right away," Ororo explains.

"And everyone else, Illyana? Katya?"

"Everyone is fine," she replies in a gentle voice. "How is Rachel?"

Peter looks towards the bed. "Exhausted. She spent most of her energy diverting Belosco's attack..."

"Belosco," Ororo snarls.

Peter frowns, a slight down turning of his lips as he turns back away from the bed. A few quick strides puts him near the window. "You did not know?"

"We have been trying to figure out how we arrived here, what could have happened to shoot us so far from are original destination, without any success. This explains much," she finishes thoughtfully.

Fred looks down at the round back chair Peter must have been sitting in when she knocked on the door. Resting on the scarlet velvet is one of Angel's sketch pads along with several pencils. Some sharpened to fine points while other's had rounded heads from use.

Out of curiosity she reaches down and picks up the pencils and pad. It was easy for her to identify what Peter was beginning to sketch despite the fact he's barely begun. Even with it being nothing more then a few scratches on a piece of paper she can clearly start to see depth and pick out a few details of the bed Rachel is in. Peter was obviously a very skilled artist. Maybe even as good as Angel.

She flips the last page back up to the top and gasps softly. Her eyes go wide as she looks down upon what is quite possible the most terrifying thing she has ever seen. It was one thing to hear Lorne's description of the Beast it was quite another to see it first hand. Even if only in a drawing.

It was a rough sketch thankfully. She didn't know if was Peter's work or Angel's, but whichever one drew it captured the Beast's hate and loathing of humanity perfectly. The creature's eyes express his desire to indiscriminately kill everything he comes across.

"Da," Peter says answering Ororo's question as he glances back at the young girl who had brought him the phone. She was looking at the sketch pad he had borrowed from Angel. If he wasn't mistaken she is looking at the hasty rendition he had done of the Beast.

He hadn't wanted to forget the vile demon so he had jotted the picture down as quickly as possible while waiting for Lorne to ready this room. He was planning on making a better, more realistic portrait of the creature while Angel tried to locate his fellow X-Men.

If time permitted.

There were many sketches he had done over the years that he wants to paint but time was always against him. There was never enough of it.

"Do you need me in Sunnydale right away?"

"Your presence would be a great comfort little brother, but I do not wish to move Rachel in her present condition. There is an Entity, an evil that permeates this entire town. Illyana has faced it once already and managed to strike a blow it will not soon forget..."

"Or forgive," Peter adds a harsh edge to his tone.

"Or forgive," she confirms. Several moments drag by slowly as the meaning sinks in. Another powerful enemy gunning for their scalps. As if they need any more. "I think we should keep Rachel where she is for time being. Possibly until she is back in top shape. According to the experts here this being is an expert at manipulating and controlling those with deep seeded, buried, or repressed guilt."

"Like Rachel surviving and escaping while all her friends and family died in a future that may yet be our own," he says understanding Ororo's meaning.

"Exactly," she responds.

Peter nods a little. The X-Men always take care of their own no matter what. "With the Beast here I cannot leave either," he adds understanding her silent request.

"Hopefully, now that we have a point to start with we will be able to discover a way home before too long. In the mean time give Angel whatever add he requires in destroying the demon," Ororo suggest to him, but may as well have ordered.

"Let everyone know I am thinking of them," Peter says a little hesitantly having never been comfortable discussing his feelings. After a short pause he adds, "and be sure to give Illyana my love." He wants more then anything to add Katya as well but it would not be proper after their breakup.

"I will little brother. Our prayers are with you and Rachel both," she replies. "I will check in with you tomorrow. Around twelve o'clock."

"I'll talk with you tomorrow then," Peter agrees. After a slight pause he takes the phone away from his ear and hangs up. One worry off his mind but others ready to take its place. Turning, his gaze falls on the brunette that was still studying his sketch. He clears his throat slightly as he moves back across the room.

Fred gives a small start at the noise. "Sorry," She apologizes. "I was just... I mean I wasn't trying to be nosey or anything. I just saw the sketchbook sitting there on the chair open and all and I just sort of couldn't help myself and take one little peek. Its really good," she finishes honestly.

Peter waves off the praise. "It was done in haste. Something to capture the moment while it was fresh, before I lost the feeling. When I have time I will sit down with canvass, paints, and brushes." He gives a little shrug. "Maybe it will even be good."

"Are you kidding? If you paint even half as good as you sketch it'll be a masterpiece," Fred assures him. With a little grin she adds, "I can't draw much more then a stick figure myself."

"Thank you," Peter says deciding to let the subject drop sensing the girl was very good at getting what she wants. Holding out his hand to her Fred hands back over the pad and the pencils. Flipping to a fresh page he moves back to the chair and sits down. With a quick glance up at Fred he sets pencil to paper saying, "you said you wished to talk with me?"

"Last year wasn't too bad. It started off pretty good, the bank job, the museum job. Both of them went off without a hitch. Well there was the part when the M'Fashnik demon threatened to kill us, but Warren took care of that... I wonder what ever did happen to him anyway?" Andrew mumbles to himself thoughtfully as he shifts uncomfortable in his chair.

"I'm not sure I really believe Warrens whole Jedi mind trick, but wouldn't it have been so cool if it was true. Imagine if we had the force on our side, what we could've done. Sunnydale would've been ours.

"Not even the slayer would have been able to stand up against three Jedi Masters. She would have fallen before us, drawn to our dark power. She would have knelt at our feet. The entire world would have bowed down before our combined might."

Logan leans back against the wall in front of the boy. Andrew's eyes had been closed since before he had entered the room. With his enhanced senses he has been forced to listen to the boy's insistently constant drivel.

That was about to change. Logan had other plans for the ultimate geek. He pulls a cigar from the breast pocket of his borrowed shirt. Striking a match he watches Andrew's eyes snap open. Then widen to the size of teacups while he stares at him. Logan puffs away, white plums of smoke filling the air as he makes sure to get a good spark going.

"This can't be... You're not... I must be..." Andrew fumbles unable to form a complete sentence as his mind moves to fast. Racing with all sorts of inane explanations.

"You know who I am bub?" Logan demands menacingly as he leans forward.

Andrew shakes his head. "It can't be," he denies. "Somebody's playing a practical joke. Or I must've fallen asleep and I'm dreaming."

Logan's claws pop out with their distinctive scraping sound. "Wanna find out if you're dreaming boy? It'll only hurt for a second." If possible Andrew's eyes grow even wider then they had been. A hopeful light gleaming in Logan's eyes. A slight whimper escapes past Andrew's lips as he shakes his head no. Logan's half smile fades as his claws slide back home. "Now, you know who I am bub?"

"Logan AKA Wolverine AKA Weapon X AKA Patch," Andrew manages to say without stumbling as he continues to stare at Logan. "What... What are you going to do to me?" Andrew whines.

"First," Logan starts off with a cruel smile hooking his lips. Suddenly both sets of claws shoot out with a double snkt.

Andrew tries to snap his eyes shut as Logan springs forward, but they're held wide with fear and terror and a horrible fascination.

Logan strikes true. His claws shredding the ropes with ease. "Is getting you out of those. Next we're going to have a little talk about how you're going to repay me for setting you free."

"You're," Andrew starts but the word comes out sounding like a dry croak. Working a little moisture back into his mouth he tries again. "You're not working for the First because I've kind of given up the whole super villain gig. It wasn't really working out for me."

Logan ignores the question. Instead he says, "there's a man working in the basement..."

"And you want me to kill him," Andrew cuts in with a little shudder. "I don't think I can do it. I mean last time I couldn't even kill one little pig. He just kind of stared up at me with those big pig eyes and I couldn't do it. He doesn't have pig eyes does he, because maybe..."

Logan growls softly stopping Andrew mid stream. "If I want the man dead he'd be dead."

Andrew nods his head nervously. "Right, of course. You're Logan, Wolverine. Why would you need me to kill someone for you?" He finishes with a nervous little chuckle. Glancing up at the short man looming over him he asks, "so what do you want me to do?"

"I want you to annoy him. All you have to do is what you've been doing. Talking," Logan states simply.

Andrew lets out a relieved sigh. "I can do that. I've had total and complete strangers walk up to me on the street to tell me that I annoy them just by being there."

Logan looks down at him and mumbles, "for some reason I'm not all that surprised."

"What if he tells me to leave?" Andrew asks quickly as Logan moves back.

Logan takes a long pull from his cigar. Exhaling he causes a large cloud to form over his head. He looks at Andrew with hard glare eyes. "I'm telling you not to."

Andrew swallows giving Logan a sharp jerk of his head. He grunts sourly before walking out of the room. Andrew swallows again coming to the realization that there was one person he did not want angry with him. Anymore then he wants Buffy, Spike, or Willow angry with him.

Using her hip Buffy gently closes the door to her bedroom. In her hands she carries a serving tray loaded down with various things. A piping hot mug of blood, O positive. Spike's favorite. Strange how she could still remember that after nearly three years. There are also a lot of condiments, things she has heard Spike mention he likes mixing in with his blood to give it some texture.

Normally he would be drinking the standard pigs blood, but with the severity of the injuries he's suffered over the past couple days at the hands of the First and its henchmen.

With how he is now he isn't going to be any good to anybody.

They need him on his feet as quickly as possible. That meant human blood. Which meant a raid on Sunnydale General Hospital since she knew, without even having to ask, what everyone's response would have been if she asked for blood donations.

It will help him heal two maybe three times faster. That was all she cares about right now.

Downstairs was a mad house. With thirteen more people needing a place to stay. All of them arriving at nearly the same time. She had no clue where to put them all.

The girls, the three potential slayers plus the three mutants and her sister seem to be intent on having a slumber party in the living room with what might possibly be Xander's entire comic book collection downstairs. Buffy didn't know just how much sleep the girls were going to get. She didn't really care either so long as they were all bright eye and bushy tail for their morning workout.

Dawn had volunteered her room to Kurt and Amanda. Possibly with the hope of something sexy happening in her room. Her sister was going to disappointed if that was the case. The lovers had already assured her nothing untoward was going to happen. That they would treat the room with the utmost decorum.

Ororo and Rogue, someone had made the mistake of calling her Marie downstairs. It had been a tense couple of moments before the young woman left the room without a word. The two of them along with Anya were bunking with Willow.

Buffy figures Forge is probably going to sleep on the cot in the basement. She has no idea, nor does she care overly much, where Logan is going to sleep. If possible the man was an even bigger, more annoying pain in the ass then what even Spike ever thought of, or was capable of being.

Looking at the blonde hair vampire resting peacefully in her bed a wisp of a smile floats across her lips. She knows she is love with him. She could admit it in her mind even if she could never allow the words to pass her lips.

True with his soul she feels he is capable of loving her. She had been close to believing him last year without the soul.

Only Angel had already shown her what type of love a soulless demon is capable of.

She couldn't, she wouldn't put her friends, her sister, or herself through that again.

It didn't mean that they couldn't be friends. As long as that was as far as it went, that it was as far as she allowed it to go. Then there wasn't a thing anyone could say to her.

If that meant she had to nurse him back to health with her own two hands then so be it. She would do the same thing for any of her friends.

Setting the tray down on her dresser she makes her back to the bed. Placing her hand on his forehead she smiles as she murmurs, "still room temperature."

Spike's eyes flutter open at her touch. Her smile widens fractionally while the rest of her face brightens noticeably. "Hey," she greets him warmly.

"What're you doing?" Spike more groans then asks.

"Taking care of you," she answers a little nervously.

Spike looks back up at her with skepticism in his eyes. "Shouldn't that involve dumping me back down in the basement with my shackles? Or maybe a more permanent solution," he suggest with meaning.

Buffy's eyes blanch slightly as her face pales.

"As long as that trigger is in my head I'm a danger to everyone here," he adds.

"I don't kill the people I..." She stops as her brain freezes.

Spike takes the break as an excuse to continue speaking. "Sent Angel to hell didn't you?" He asks reminding her of a time she would much rather forget.

"Had the world hanging in the balance," she replies sitting on the edge of the bed. Without any real thought or motivation beyond a subconscious need to be in physical contact with Spike she takes hold of his hand. "Kind of an easy choice there. Angel the world. Hmm, which am I going to condemn to hell?" She mocks asking him.

"Easy choice here as well pet," his voice a hushed whisper.

Buffy shakes her head defiantly. "Once we get you back on your feet then we can get that trigger out of your head," she tells him.

Spike gives her a weak shake of his head as he says, "I get back on my feet I'm going to be an even greater danger to everyone."

She gives his hand a hard squeeze causing him to flinch slightly with the pain. "You're not going to hurt anyone. I won't let you. And nobody is going to kill you, yourself included. I won't them," she vows in a hard, deathly soft voice that brings the conversation to an end.

Cordelia holds her hand up level with her shoulder keeping the glowing sphere of light held high to illuminate the dank tunnels she is currently dredging her way through. She wishes there is an easier way to get where she needs to go. Just like she wishes she couldn't see some of the things that squish under her feet.

Not because they were too disgusting for her to stomach seeing, but because she could see what they were doing to her boots. She was never going to be able to wear the soft black leather footgear again no matter how she scoured to get them clean.

Her own dark dreams made what she saw in these vast and ancient tunnels seem like roses and lily pads lining the banks of a clear slow moving stream, that churns lazily over smooth river rocks on a cloudless, pleasantly warm spring day.

She had sent her beautiful boy out to begin the next phase of her plan. If the Rain of Fire was a wash out she was going to get her eternal night even if she had to wipe out half the world to do it.

It shouldn't take long. A day or two to gather all the necessary ingredients, plus cause enough mindless mayhem and destruction to keep the big brains at Angel Investigation, Wolfram and Hart, and all the other agencies out there guessing what was going to happen next.

The only organization she had really had to worry about divining her true plans has already been eliminated, destroyed by her ancient rival.

The First Evil.

What a quaint little name these humans had given it.

They were older then any concept of good and evil. They predated thought itself. Self awareness came with the birth of the universe.

They had played this same game on countless worlds. Following rules as old as they are. Rules so ancient they are all but forgotten in the darkest recesses of their minds, but graven so deeply in what they are they follow them without conscious thought.

Sometimes she wins.

Sometimes her rival wins.

To the worlds they play on it doesn't really matter. In the end the results are nearly the same.

But now she had a pair of interlopers to deal with. Beings with enough power they could throw a serious monkey wrench in her plans if given the chance.

She has no desire to give them that chance.

The tunnel comes to an abrupt end. The rough hewn rock with deep pits in its surface baring anyone from going any further. The light vanishes bathing everything in blackness darker then deepest void of space.

She holds her hand out, her palm pressing on the callused stone. She speaks one word. An ancient word from the first language. A word of pure power none living know.

The wall before her vanishes revealing a narrow passage through the rock walls. A soft bluish white light washes over everything.

Once she was done with them they wouldn't be much of a problem at all. Sleeping Beauty would continue to sleep, and her protector... Soon that was going to be the only thing on his mind.

And sometime over the next two days she was going to have to find some way of tripping Connor into her bed. His bed actually. Any bed would do.

It wasn't necessary for Angel to see the event. That just would have been the coup de grâce. But a vampire's senses being what they are after all. She was more then positive Angel would figure it out on his own.

With that last thought she steps through the opening in the rock and into the soft light leaving this world behind and entering a realm as old as the universe itself.

Her true home.

________________________________________________________________________

Synchronicity - The Police

With one breath, with one flow  
You will know  
Synchronicity  
  
A sleep trance, a dream dance  
A shared romance  
Synchronicity  
  
A connecting principle  
Linked to the invisible  
Almost imperceptible  
Something inexpressible  
Science insusceptible  
Logic so inflexible  
Causally connectible  
Yet nothing is invincible  
  
If we share this nightmare  
Then we can dream  
Spiritus mundi  
  
If you act, as you think  
The missing link  
Synchronicity

A connecting principle  
Linked to the invisible  
Almost imperceptible  
Something inexpressible  
Science insusceptible  
Logic so inflexible  
Causally connectible  
Yet nothing is invincible  
  
We know you, they know me  
Extrasensory  
Synchronicity  
  
A star fall, a phone call  
It joins all  
Synchronicity

A connecting principle  
Linked to the invisible  
Almost imperceptible  
Something inexpressible  
Science insusceptible  
Logic so inflexible  
Causally connectible  
Yet nothing is invincible  
  
It's so deep, it's so wide  
Your inside  
Synchronicity  
  
Effect without a cause  
Sub-atomic laws, scientific pause  
Synchronicity......


End file.
